Knight School
by koalarap
Summary: AU. Join Natsuki on her journey of self discovery, love, friendship and family as she grows stronger each day mentally and physically as she learns and finds out what being a knight means. Shiznat in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

**A/N:** The idea of this fic is inspired from Tamora Pierce's fantasy books. The storyline of this story will be based loosely on her Lioness' Quartet and Protector series. Sorry cant really remember the full name of the books cos I read them quite some years ago. Hope you all will enjoy this story, and hopefully read Tamora Pierce's books too hehe. Oh, lastly, this story will be Natsuki centred and although there will be future shiznat interactions, there will be some romance but it is not central to this fic.

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It was a clear, cool morning. The birds were chirping merrily and rabbits and squirrels alike were busy poking their noses out of their hibernation spots, breathing in the fresh scent of spring. Just like the bustling activity outside, the Kruger household was in a flurry of activities. Maids were scurrying about, carrying packages of varying sizes to be placed in the horse carriage waiting outside the Kruger mansion. Beside the horse carriage stood four figures, seeming to be engaged in a hearty conversation, taking no notice of the hustle and bustle around them.

"Remember to take good care of yourself and eat your vegetables!" said a middle-aged woman. Despite being in her late thirties, Saeko Kruger still managed to maintain her good looks and figure, looking not a day older than any twenty year old maidens.

"Mum! I'm an adult already, not to mention a full-fledged knight! Stop treating me like a child!" grumbled the figure beside her, who had the same navy blue hair cut short and green emerald eyes.

"You will always be my baby no matter how old you get," smiled Saeko as she gave the said figure a bone-crushing hug before dabbing away the tears that had welled up in her eyes with her handkerchief. All four figures broke into laughter.

"Do the Kruger name proud," a deep, manly voice said, coming from the third figure on the other side of Saeko. This figure was Kei Kruger, head of the Kruger household and lord of the Kruger fiefdom.

"I will, dad. I will always uphold the code of Knighthood to protect the weak and serve the kingdom." Before receiving yet another bear hug from Kei Kruger.

"Sir! The luggage is all packed and the carriage is ready to leave anytime," interrupted a man-at-arms.

"One more minute, Conrad." And the man-at-arms promptly made a move to the driver's seat, readying the horses for the journey.

"Ok, little twerp! Be a good girl when I'm gone alright?" said the knight, as he stooped down to pat the fourth figure on the head.

"Aye, aye, Natsume Onichan. I will protect mama and papa while you are away," quipped five-year-old Natsuki Kruger. "I will become a Knight like you someday, so you must come back and teach me how to fight properly after you have kicked some Scanvians butts!" After another bout of hearty laughter, Natsume Kruger embarked on his journey to join the battle at the kingdom's northern border.

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"Ojou-sama! Ojou-sama!" shouted Otoha, the head maid of the Kruger household as she tried in vain to wake the sleeping figure of her young mistress. Otoha shivered slightly as she felt the goosebumps of her skin rise from the chill in her young mistress's room. She never could figure out why the surroundings of her young mistress always felt colder than normal.

"Ojou-sama, please wake up for breakfast! Master and Madam are already waiting for you at the dining table!" continued Otoha, now violently shaking Natsuki, hoping to jolt her out of dreamland.

"Wha-What? Onichan?" Natsuki muttered dreamily, while sleepily rubbing her eyes with both hands. Slowly, she managed to gather her senses and a pang of pain shot through her heart as she remembered her dream. It had been such a long time since she had dreamt of her deceased elder brother. A sad smile formed on her face as she remembered that at least this dream was a good one, which replayed the scene she last saw of her beloved brother. Most of her other dreams involving her brother were not pretty. They were mostly bloody and contained gory scenes of her brother being killed over and over again by the filthy Scanvians who had often invaded their kingdom's northern border to burn and pillage villages near the Scanvian border, and never failed to cause Natsuki to wake up in cold sweat each time.

"I'm awake already, Otoha. Help me get dressed," yawned Natsuki as she got up from her massive four-poster bed, stretching her sides lazily. "Don't even think of getting me into those ugly frocks or dresses, Otoha." With a sigh of disappointment, Otoha put away a pretty baby pink dress she had chosen from her young mistress's seldom used closet and opened another massive wardrobe packed full with a vast array of tunics and breeches of all colours imaginable. After getting dressed in her favourite dark blue tunic and black breeches, Natsuki happily skipped out of her room and down the stairs to join her parents for breakfast.

"My dear Natsuki, why are you wearing tunics and breeches? When will you start acting like a lady? For goodness sake, you are twelve already and still acts like a little boy!" sighed Saeko exasperatedly, while Kei just shook his head in amusement. "My little girl never grows up eh?" He winked at his daughter. Natsuki stuck her tongue out and made a face at her parents, as she made her way to her seat at the table. Breakfast at Kruger's household was always a spread. Saeko believed in the saying that breakfast is golden and hence, always made sure that the breakfast menu was always varied and sumptuous, and forcing her children and husband to have seconds or even thirds as much as possible. Without further ado, Natsuki piled her plate high with bacon, eggs and sausages and started attacking her food hungrily.

"Natsuki! What did I tell you about table manners? A lady do not gorge on her food!" nagged Saeko. Natsuki just rolled her eyes and continued wolfing down her food at record speed. "It seems that your etiquette lessons are not having much impact on you. Maybe we should increase the number of sessions?" Saeko threatened. Natsuki balked at the suggestion and immediately slowed down her pace, earning a victorious grin on her mother's face. This was a standard routine in the Kruger household. Natsuki would always gorge on her food while her mother would always threaten her with the same suggestion, which never failed to work but also never succeeded in kicking her habit of gorging.

"Natsuki, don't forget that you have a dancing lesson after breakfast. The dance instructor is already at the dancing parlour waiting for you," reminded Saeko and eliciting a loud groan of annoyance from Natsuki. After finishing her breakfast slowly as desired by her mother, Natsuki slumped her shoulders and proceeded towards the dancing parlour. She hated dancing lessons. In fact, she hated all the girly lessons required of her to prepare her to be a lady in waiting at court as expected of all noble women. She hated them not so much for the fact that they were girly, but also because they were silly and boring and she could never do well at them. For instance, no matter how many etiquette lessons she took, she just could not walk the way a lady was supposed to, dignified and sashaying with femininity with every step. She would always be hit on the head by her etiquette tutor, Miss Maria, for slumping her shoulders, hunching her back or even walking with her legs too wide and far apart. The only time she managed to walk like a lady ended with a disastrous effect of falling flat on her face on her third step. Just thinking about her etiquette lessons gave her the shudders.

She finally reached the dancing parlour and was beckoned into the room by her dance instructor. "Today, we will continue with the basics of ballroom dancing. This is an important skill for young ladies, so be prepared to be drilled hard on this," warned the instructor. "Yes, m'am," Natsuki pretended to sigh in defeat and got into the dancing position with her instructor. "I will not give this up without a fight," she thought, as an evil plan sneaked up her mind.

"Now, follow my lead and we go 1, 2, 3…ouch!" winced her instructor as one of Natsuki's foot landed on top of her instructor's. "Oops, I'm sorry," Natsuki said apologetically, giving her instructor an angelic look. "It's ok, let's continue." Coupled with Natsuki's natural poor sense of rhythm, Natsuki's plan of inflicting pain on her instructor's feet both accidentally and purposely was a huge success. The dancing session was peppered with the instructor's incessant winces and eventually cut short due to the poor instructor's feet being too swollen to continue dancing anymore. Heart screaming with glee from her early release, Natsuki skipped out of the dancing parlour merrily, too happy to register the soft muttering of her dance instructor.

"I swear she keeps stepping on my feet on purpose, that little devil!"

As Natsuki had the rest of the day free of lessons, she decided to reward herself a little by going outside for some fresh air. Along the way out, she passed by a mantelpiece by the wall. The surface of the mantelpiece was empty except for a small badge propped against the wall on top of the mantelpiece. Natsuki stopped skipping and reached for the badge, holding it tightly in her small fist. The badge was the only thing that remained of her beloved brother. It was awarded posthumously to the Krugers as a badge of honour for Natsume Kruger who died valiantly in battle. Natsuki still remembered the day when news of Natsume's death reached his family. Saeko was the first to break down in tears as the King's messenger relayed the sombre news. Natsuki had never seen her mother cry so piteously before. In fact, she had never seen her mother cry at all before the event. Saeko used to be all smiles, with a perfect family, a caring husband, a capable son and an adorable daughter. Natsume's death broke her. For almost a year after his death, Saeko never lived a day once without crying. Eventually, and fortunately, time heals all wounds and Saeko managed to keep herself together and dedicated more time and energy on her remaining living family members. However, her eyes that once held a happy and contented glint had long been replaced by those set deeply in grief. Kei was no better when he heard the grave news. Although he managed to will his tears away, his shaking hands betrayed his shock and grief when he accepted the badge. Natsuki herself was too shocked to react at the news. Shocked from the news, shocked from seeing her parents so distraught and shocked that she would never see her beloved brother again. She was so shocked that she could not cry, and that was the first time that she understood the feeling of unshed tears hurting the most. After the event, the whole family learnt to recover from the loss, albeit ever so slowly, and although Natsume lived in their hearts, they learnt not to speak of him even now, for saying his name would somehow break the fragile normalcy they now had.

Natsuki clenched the badge ever tighter in her fist, ignoring the pain in her hand as she carried it out with her, for the pain in her hand could never match the grief in her heart. Over the years, Natsuki had learnt not to cry as child. It was the first thing that her brother taught her when she used to be a crybaby. A knight only shed blood, not tears. Willing her tears away, Natsuki decided that she would climb a tree for a change of mood. The Kruger estate was huge and the yard was full of trees. Instead of a yard, one could even say that the Kruger estate was surrounded by forest, complete with rivers and hills. Sometimes, commoners and peasants of the Kruger fiefdom would accidentally stumble into the estate. Usually, Lord Kruger would not mind sharing his estate with the commoners but when they got too rowdy or started destroying his properties, he would send his guards and men at arms to chase them away.

After searching the forest for a while for a really tall tree, Natsuki spotted her favourite tree. It was one of the tallest trees in the Kruger estate and sometimes when she got hungry or thirsty, she could even pluck some of the sweet ripe apples it provided to munch on. After making sure that she had placed the badge safely in the chest pocket of her tunic, Natsuki proceeded to climb the tree. In a matter of minutes, she was sitting at the topmost branch of the tree, thanks to her superb agility, experience and familiarity with the tree. Natsuki enjoyed climbing trees. Firstly, it was because her brother who taught her how to climb trees. Secondly, the view from top would always keep her mind at bay from troubles and foul moods. Thirdly, and most importantly, she enjoyed the dangerous thrill of climbing trees, the taller the better. The act of doing something dangerous filled her whole being with excitement, anxiety and happiness all rolled into one toxic combination that she grew addicted to. Ever since her brother's death, her parents had been overly protective of her. Everything and every activity that hinted even the most remote signs of danger were kept away from her, to the point where she was even forbidden to enter the kitchens because there were knives in there. Thankfully, her parents did not know of her dangerous hobby of climbing trees or she would even be forbidden to get out of the house.

Sitting on the tree branch and swinging her legs in the air, Natsuki tried to look as far as possible with her keen eyesight. She spotted a lone figure traveling at a very fast pace towards the mansion. Straining her eyes further, she saw that it was just a regular messenger guard riding a horse to deliver regular mundane official documents to her father. A sigh escaped Natsuki as she secretly envied the messenger guard. How she longed to be able to ride a horse like him everyday but alas, her mother would never allow her to ride a horse no matter how much she pleaded her, as she deemed horse riding to be a dangerous sport and felt that there was no need for lady to learn horse riding anyway when she could always sit in horse carriages. As she sat on the branch dreaming about riding a horse, time flew by and the skies began to darken. With another sigh, she started to climb down her tree. It was almost time for dinner. She did not want her mother to start asking questions on what she was doing if she was late.

However, as she got near to the ground, she heard a faint whimpering somewhere further into the forest. Her curiosity got the better of her and she followed the sounds of the whimpering with her keen hearing. The whimpering grew louder with every step she took further into the forest. A few more steps and this time, she could hear boyish laughing and the growing whimpering of an injured animal. Fearing that the animal might not be able to survive any longer, Natsuki tore through the forest and found herself face to face with two boys around her age, one of them carrying a big club and hitting a small furry animal repeatedly on its torso. There was so much blood on the animal that Natsuki could not recognize what animal it was.

"Hey! What are you doing! I demand you to stop this brutality immediately!" Natsuki screamed at the boys, running to put herself between the boys and the injured animal. The boys were shocked at her entrance but quickly regained themselves and threatened, "We are just having some fun here. Move away and we will not harm you." Natsuki was practically seething with anger when she heard the outrageous reply. The surrounding temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. She could feel the anger building up inside of her and could not stop her body from shaking with rage. Too angry to speak, she lunged headlong at the boys. Her surprise attack allowed her to gain an initial advantage, slamming one of boys onto the ground and she pounced on top of him, all the while raining heavy blows on both sides of his face. Being pinned down by her body weight, the boy could only fend off her attacks by trying to shield his face with his arms, but to no avail. In her frenzied state, she just kept hitting as hard, as fast and as much as she could, ignoring his pleas for her to stop. The other boy, shocked by scene, quickly regained composure and picked up the club on the floor used to beat the animal, and swung it with as much force he could muster onto Natsuki's back.

Natsuki felt the heavy blow of the club struck her back and almost crumpled from the impact. "Get the fuck off my friend you crazy bitch!" yelled the second boy as he repeatedly struck at Natsuki's back. Blow after blow rained on her mercilessly. Natsuki could only bear the brunt of the attack but not turn towards her aggressor as each time she wanted to turn and face him, the next blow would send her body reeling back to the same position with her back exposed to him. Natsuki grew weaker with each blow and sensing the weakness, the boy below her quickly shoved her away and escaped from her pinning. His friend stopped wielding the club but the boy that had his face covered with bruises from Natsuki's punch would not give up this opportunity to exact revenge and immediately jumped on top of Natsuki and paid back his due. "Take that you bitch!" He growled as he started pelting her face with strong solid blows. After the repeated blows on her back, Natsuki could hardly straighten it. She could only curl up as she felt her face being pummeled like the back of the butcher's knife thumping into meat to tenderize it. For a fleeting moment, she thought she would die until she heard a loud whimper coming from beside her. Opening one of her swollen and bruised eyelids, she saw that while the first boy was busy punching Natsuki, the second boy continued his assault on the poor animal. Anger flared in her like a bonfire, their cruelty utterly disgusted her and the need to protect that poor animal from harm gave her the strength to withstand the blows being dealt to her. Ignoring the pain in her back and the continuous assault on her face, Natsuki managed to shove the boy off her and turned the tables on him. This time she showed no mercy. Remembering techniques that her brother once taught her, she drew her arm back, and aimed her first and final blow at his throat. She did not want to be a killer yet, so she purposely aimed slightly away from the throat, so that she would not crush his windpipe but would still inflict enough damage to make the boy grasp her neck for breath. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, Natsuki swiftly turned to the second boy who was too engrossed in his cruel obsession that he failed to notice Natsuki's approach. Mustering as much strength as she could, Natsuki drew her arm up and landed a high karate chop on the back of his neck. The second boy passed out immediately from the attack. Turning her back once again, Natsuki saw that the first boy was fast recovering from his throat attack and was scrambling to get away. Swiftly, Natsuki got to his side and started kicking him in the guts. The boy let out a loud scream and immediately curled up to stop her kicks from reaching his stomach. Ignoring his fruitless attempts, Natsuki kicked him repeatedly on his face, back, chest, and stomach until she was satisfied with the handiwork she had made of him, whole body all coloured up in bruises and hardly able to move, all the while sobbing and whimpering pathetically. She coloured up the second boy just as much and did not care that he was unconscious. She wanted him to feel the pain when he woke up. Finally satisfied with her work, she spat on their faces and picked up the injured animal to return home, hoping that she was not too late in saving it. In her wake, she left behind two seriously injured boys in the open to fend for themselves in the Kruger forest and a blade of grass frozen in ice.

Limping her way home from the forest through sheer determination and endurance, she managed to reach the Kruger mansion with the injured animal in her embrace, as she finally collapsed onto the doorstep unconscious. Even the loud shrieks of Otoha finding her young mistress all beaten and bloody could not wake her from state of unconsciousness.

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End of chapter one

Thank you for giving this story a try and reading it to the end. Hopefully I did not bore you too much and you will still hang on to read the second chapter. Oh man, I started writing this chapter at 11pm and only finished it at 5am in the morning… gosh I take one hell of a time to write a chapter. Reviews will be greatly appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

**A/N: Following the advice from the kind reviewers thus far, i will try to break down large chunks of paragraphs into readable sizes :P Enjoy!**

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Natsuki felt something wet touch her cheek. It was a rough, tickling sensation as she felt her whole face slowly enveloping in wetness. Slowly prying one heavy eyelid open to peek, she was met with a white furry object eagerly lapping at her face. Events of the episode before she blacked out slowly flooded her as she faintly recognized that the white furry object was the animal that she had rescued previously from the clutches of cruelty. Taking a good look at the white furry object, she saw that it was a white wolf pup she had saved and it had been properly cleaned and healed. Not a single trace of injuries could be found on the animal, suggesting that a healer had probably treated it. The wolf pup, seeing that Natsuki had awakened, bounded happily on her soft pillow and continued to lick her face gently. Natsuki couldn't help but smile at the wolf pup's affection as she slowly sat up on her bed. Carrying the wolf pup off her pillow and onto her lap, she started stroking it gently, as the wolf pup curled up into a ball and tried to settle itself comfortably.

Now that she has awakened, Natsuki carefully surveyed the damage done onto her body. All her cuts had been healed without a trace of any scars but her body was still covered up in colourful bruises. Natsuki poked on one of her bruises. She was amazed that she hardly felt any pain from it. Bless the healers! She had heard of these wonderful people who used magic to aid in the rapid recovery of wounds and illnesses. Natsuki, being a strong and over protected child, never had to engage the services of healers and their presence was almost like a myth to her. Who would have thought that the first time she needed one, she ended up looking so colourful? She couldn't help but chuckle aloud at the thought. Although she knew that she had been healed, she felt strangely lethargic and famished, and her tummy gave a loud rumble of hunger in agreement.

Just then, the door to her room opened. Natsuki was surprised to see that it was not Otoha who entered. Instead, it was her mother and she was carrying a large tray filled with plates of food. "I see that you have finally awakened." A look of relief flashed past her face as she carried the tray towards Natsuki. Settling the tray in front of Natsuki, she proceeded to fuss over her daughter, checking her body for any signs of wound that had gone untreated. Satisfied that her daughter had been thoroughly healed, she pointed to the food on the tray with her finger and ordered, "Now, start eating and rest after that. A healing session will drain your energy and make you hungry, and you had had more than one session." Natsuki could see the reproach and worry in her mother's eyes. She could only smile guiltily and started stuffing her mouth with the delicious feast in front her, thankful that her mother at least did not ask her to eat more gracefully.

Once her hunger had been satiated, she picked up a few left over bacon strips and fed them to the wolf pup. An awkward silence hung in the room as mother stared at her daughter intently.

"I think I deserve to know what happened to you, after what you have put me through," Saeko said. Reproach mixed with worry freshly evident on her face now.

"I just had a fight with some village boys. They were torturing this poor pup here so there was no way I would stand by and do nothing," Natsuki said, steeling her voice so that it would not come across as too guilty for making her parents worry about her. Looking away from her mother, she continued petting the wolf pup.

"Don't you ever do such a foolish thing again. We almost thought that we lost you too!" this time, tears had leaked down her eyes and coated her cheeks, as she pulled her daughter in for a fierce hug. "I'm sorry for making you worry." Guilt weighed heavily on Natsuki's chest as she felt her mother's tears land on her shoulders. But she never regretted her decision to save this wolf pup. If she had not stood up for it, this wolf pup would not have stayed alive. The thought that her brother would no doubt stand in defence for the wolf pup made her glad that she did what she had to. If only I had the proper training, then I wouldn't have been so badly injured and worry my parents…

Moments passed and Saeko finally managed to gather herself. Wiping her tears off her face with her hands, she smiled and said, "It seems like this little puppy has taken a liking to you. Each time we tried getting it away from you while you were asleep, it would keep whimpering non-stop, so we decided to leave it beside you. Do you want to keep it?"

Natsuki could not believe her ears. Her mother is allowing her to keep a WOLF pup as pet? Has the sky fallen? Of course she wants to keep it as a pet! Having a wolf as a pet will be so cool! It seemed that Saeko had not realized yet that the pup was of wolf breed and not dog breed. Wolf and dog pups look quite similar with only subtle differences when young, just that wolf pups do not bark. As Saeko generally did not like animals, she did not know the difference between wolf and dog pups. She only thought that the pup looked a bit different from the usual puppy type and found it strange that it only yipped and not bark, but dismissed her suspicions when she saw the pup's affection towards her daughter. Seeing that her mother did not realize her mistake, Natsuki quickly got her tongue in check before she could say anything to betray the real species of the pup. Giving her mother a wide grin and the most angelic face she could muster, she happily thanked her mother and gave her a big hug. "It shall be called Duran then!" And she happily scooped the wolf pup into her embrace.

"Oh, and before I forget, once you get better, we will be sending you to the Ladies' School for a proper training in becoming a lady. We will not allow you to continue any of those silly acts of heroics anymore. You will become a proper lady and be safe there." Saeko beamed.

Natsuki felt like a bombshell had been dropped on her head. A Ladies' school? She must be joking!

"No! I don't want to go to a Ladies' School! Haven't all my disastrous classes in etiquettes and dance told you that I can't be a lady? I'm not made to be one!" Natsuki vehemently protested.

"Nonsense! Anyone can be a lady if she tries hard enough." Saeko said flatly.

"But I want to be a Knight!"

"A girl can never be a Knight. Now stop this nonsense and get resting."

"But I promised Natsume-Onichan I will become a Knight!"

There, she had said it. She had said the taboo N-word before she could take it back. Pain flashed across Saeko's eyes. Natsuki knew that there was no turning back now. It was now or never.

"I want to be Knight," Natsuki re-emphasized. "I want to avenge Natsume-Onichan. I may be young but I know that the Scanvians have not stopped invading our northern borders. The kingdom is in need of soldiers to fight them so even if you refuse to send me for Knight training, I will volunteer myself to be a soldier." Her voice had turned steely with resolve and determination.

"Please, mother. I want to fulfill my promise to Onichan and carry out his wishes to protect this kingdom. This is my dream too." Natsuki looked into Saeko's eyes, hoping her determination and sincerity would move her, but the look was returned with anger and sadness.

"I will not lose another child to war. I will escort you personally to the Ladies' School if necessary." Saeko's voice was full of hurt as she said her final piece and turned to leave the room. Natsuki could only vent all her anger and frustration on her pillows.

Dinner was eaten in silence at the Kruger dining table. Saeko did not bother to correct her daughter's ungraceful eating habit nor did Natsuki bother to eat more gracefully. To show her unhappiness, she even purposely ate as ungracefully as possible, abandoning her fork and knife to use her hands to eat her steak, and making as much noise as possible while eating. After finishing her dinner and licking her fingers clean, Natsuki was about to leave for the comfort of her room with Duran at her heels when she was stopped short by her father.

"Natsuki, come to the study with me." Her father ordered, his voice unusually filled with authority that Natsuki did not dare to disobey.

* * *

"Saeko has told me that you wanted to be a Knight."

Natsuki nodded.

"Why is that so?"

"To fulfill my promise to Onichan."

"A promise is not good enough. Try again."

"For revenge?"

Natsuki asked tentatively, not sure where this conversation was going.

"That will be the last reason that I will send you to a battlefield."

Natsuki's face fell. Her two most important reasons to become a Knight were still not enough to convince her father. Trying hard to come up with a better reason, she suddenly felt Duran nudging her leg, seeming to encourage her, and a very compelling reason lit up in her mind. She gave herself a mental slap for forgetting that very important reason, and silently thanked Duran for his help.

"For honor and justice. To uphold the kingdom's honor, for the family's honor and for my honor. I want to be a Knight to protect these lands, my family and friends and to protect the weak against the strong."

There was a moment of silence.

"Very good. You have finally seen the light." Kei Kruger beamed at his daughter. He then handed Natsuki two envelopes.

"One is for the headmaster of the Knight School, Sir Walde, to inform him of my wish to send you for Knight training and payments for the training. The training for new pages has already started two weeks ago, but it is not uncommon for new students to join the school late. However, you will have a lot of catching up to do compared to the other pages since you started late."

Natsuki nodded to show her understanding.

"The other envelope is for Master Youko, she is a close friend of mine and is the healer in charge of the infirmary in the training school. This is to inform her of your 'special' constitution in case you require any healing. I have only one thing that I ask of you. Do not disclose your gender or in any way let anyone find out that you are a girl. You know as well as I do that girls cannot be knights. We will all be in trouble if your gender is disclosed. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, father. But why did you suddenly allow me to go for Knight training?" Natsuki could not contain her surprise at the change in her father's over-protective attitude towards her.

"Like I don't know your stubborn nature. You will sneak out of Ladies' School when you get the chance and join the army even without our consent. I would rather send you for proper Knight training than let you join the army untrained and unprepared for battle," replied Kei, as he snorted in amusement and waved his daughter out of the study.

Natsuki couldn't help but smile at her father's understanding of her.

"But what about mother?"

"Don't worry. I will convince her eventually." And he gave Natsuki a wink.

"Rest well tonight so that you can be prepared for the journey tomorrow to get to the Knight training school which is part of the castle in Windbloom city. You won't want to be later than you already are. But you have to leave Duran at home because pages are not allowed pets in their quarters."

"Eh?!" Natsuki was shocked at the fast turn of events. Scooping Duran in her arms, she ran back to her room in excitement and snuggled up beside the wolf pup for the last time before she went on her journey. She was so excited she almost could not sleep that night as her mind kept screaming, "I'm going to be a knight for real!"

The next day, the Kruger household was abuzz with activities like it used to be seven years ago. Maids were scurrying back and forth, making sure that their young mistress's things were all packed and ready to go. Back in Natsuki's room, Saeko Kruger was giving the young Kruger a haircut to make her look more like a boy. Although it saddened her to part with her long luxuriant navy blue hair that she had grown for years, Natsuki felt that it was a small price to pay for pursuing her dreams. Once she was done, twelve-year-old Natsuki Kruger looked so strikingly similar to twelve-year-old Natsume Kruger that Saeko could not help but suppress a sob. With her sharp nose, bright green determined eyes, short navy blue hair and flawless porcelain fair skin, Natsuki looked the perfect, dashing gentleman that any girl would fall for under her charms.

Nonetheless, Natsuki was still a girl and a lot of preparations were needed to disguise her as a boy for four years of knighthood training. She was given a breast band to hide any chest developments. Even though she was still underdeveloped in the chest department currently, she still had to wear it at all times just in case.

"Wear this around your neck at all times," said Saeko as she handed an amulet necklace to Natsuki.

"What's that?"

"I got it from the local apothecary. It's a special amulet that contains magic to ward off your monthlies."

This elicited a furious blush on Natsuki's face.

"And pregnancies."

Her face grew an even darker shade of red.

"I'm not going to get pregnant!"

"Better be safe than sorry, silly girl. Then wear it to ward off your monthlies, I don't think you will want to be losing blood and still do strenuous training at the same time." Saeko said as she chuckled at her daughter's obvious embarrassment.

"Fine!" Natsuki managed to fight off her blush and hung the amulet around her neck, tucking it out of sight beneath her dark green tunic.

Once everything was ready, her family stood outside the front gates to see her off.

"I never thought I will say this a second time, but Natsuki, I hope you will do the Kruger name proud." Kei Kruger said, as he gave Natsuki his usual bear hug.

"And come home safe!" Saeko added, before receiving a crushing hug from her daughter.

"I will," Natsuki reassured her parents. She then knelt down to hug Duran one last time before entering the waiting horse carriage packed full with luggage; ready to embark on her journey to become a Knight.

* * *

Windbloom city was not too far away from the Kruger fiefdom. It only took a day for Natsuki to reach it on horse carriage. Peering out of the window of the carriage, Natsuki realized that the capital of the kingdom, Windbloom city, was vastly different from her hometown.

In Kruger fiefdom, most of the common folks were peasants or hunters. Large tracts of central land were dedicated to farming while the western part of Kruger fiefdom was occupied by hundreds of acres of forested land. Kruger fiefdom was famed for its agricultural industry with its fertile soil and conducive climate for plants, so much so that its other name was called the food plateau of the kingdom. As the Kruger fiefdom always had bountiful harvests, the peasants often had excess food products to sell to other fiefdoms, hence earning the name. The people there lived simply; waking at dawn to tend the farms and sleeping when dusk fell. Candles were hardly lit at night, as there was no need for work to be done at night. Although life there was boring to a large extent, the people were happy and contented, enjoying fully the simple pleasures of life and nature.

Here in Windbloom city, it was a totally different story. Natsuki came to fully understand why it was called the city of lights. Even though it was nighttime when they had arrived into the city, the streets were bright as day and fully packed with commoners going about their businesses as though it was the early morning. The streetlights were not lit by kerosene but were instead powered by magical flaming cores. The magical flaming cores illuminated the streets like the gentle shine of moonlight, just brighter and covered vast areas of the street, much better than kerosene streetlamps. Natsuki assumed it was an invention by the Royal Magical Research Facility located in the city.

Like the Knight School, many famous places of education, religion, training and research were located in Windbloom city. This included the aforementioned prestigious Royal Magical Research Facility, which was a center for magical research and development, constantly improving and innovating on uses of magic and coming out with magical devices and gadgets for various purposes. There was also the Royal Mage Academy, where countless young mages attend to refine their art of magic in various fields such as healing and other support type magic. Last but not all, there was also the Royal University where bright students all over the kingdom gather to hone their minds on non-magical aspects of the kingdom such as technology, business of trade, law and conventional medicine.

Windbloom was the melting pot of the kingdom where people of all walks of life and talents gather and thrive. There were the merchants who set up countless stores on the streets of Windbloom, selling their wares to the busy crowd; there were the mages who had come from various parts of the kingdom to attend the Mage Academy or to work at the Magical Research Facility; there were the priests residing in the Holy Worship Altar who practiced their own form of ritual magic; there were the soldiers who attend the Royal Military Academy; not to mention peasants selling their crops, artisans performing their arts, selling their paints or crafting their sculptures; and lastly the nobles who attended the King's Court in Windbloom Castle.

Natsuki was overthrown by the multitude of interesting yet strange sights and sounds of the capital city. The ever busy and rowdy crowd on the streets gave her a headache. It never ceased to amaze her that the people of Windbloom did not seem to need to sleep as it was night and yet, none of them appeared to be ending their busy activities anytime soon. The air of the city assaulted her nose constantly as unlike the crisp fresh air of countryside in Kruger Fiefdom, the air in the city carried various aromas of freshly cooked food mixed with body odours of the packed crowd and the strong stench of horse dung from the large numbers of horse carriages owned by the wealthy nobles living in the city. It was almost putrid and Natsuki thought that she might puke from the horrible stench if she was to stay on the streets any longer.

Luckily for her, the huge castle gates of Windbloom Castle were soon in sight. Natsuki winced as her butt suffered yet another bump from the uneven roads on the horse carriage as it slowly drew to a halt. This was it, she thought, as she looked out of the window of the carriage. They were in front of a huge towering metallic gate, which blocked the long pathway towards Windbloom Castle. From afar, Natsuki could make out the impressive size of the castle, with its many wings and turrets. Guards in metallic armour stood neatly in line along the gate. One of the guards, presumably their Captain, approached the carriage and inquired the nature of their business. Natsuki quickly got out of the carriage and spoke loudly and confidently.

"I'm Natsuki Kruger and I'm here to attend Knight School. This horse carriage carries my luggage."

Natsuki then showed the guard a badge with the Kruger's Crest bearing the symbol of a Wolf's head baring its fangs, as instructed by her father before she left for her trip. The Captain of the guard then nodded and signaled for the rest of the guards to draw the gates open. Seeing that she was given permission to enter castle grounds, she quickly got back into her carriage and proceeded to enter the gates. There was only one thought in Natsuki's head and it was that she had just taken the first step towards the adventure of her lifetime.

**End of Chapter Two**

Thank you for reading yet another chapter of K.S. Hope that you guys enjoyed it and not find it too slow paced. Hopefully, Shizuru will make an entrance next chapter. Stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything  
**

**A/N: Yay finally managed to squeeze out chap 3 :D Hope you all will enjoy it!**

* * *

Natsuki listened intently at the scratchy sound of quill on parchment, as she stood nervously in front of a large wooden desk. Seated behind the desk was a large man, looking to be in his forties, with gray black hair and matching light gray eyes. His eyebrows were knitted as he continued scrawling on the parchment, and the wrinkles in between his brows seemed to increase as time went by. He was so engrossed in his work that he failed to register someone else's presence. At the right hand side of his desk was a stand up nametag, bearing the name "Sir Gwendal Walde". Natsuki assumed that he must be the headmaster of Knight School that her father was talking about.

Making a small cough to get his attention, Natsuki ventured.

"Sir Walde?"

The man looked up from his parchment and his eyes bore down on Natsuki with an air of authority.

"What's the matter, sonny?" He had one eyebrow raised in annoyance.

"I'm Natsuki Kruger. Reporting to attend Knight School as wished by my father, Lord Kruger." Natsuki replied, trying to keep her nerves out of her voice. She then handed the envelope addressed to him.

The man gruffly took the envelope and opened it, surveying the contents of the letter.

"Another Kruger? I still remember your brother. He's a fine knight. The best we ever had. Too bad he died too young," he said, shaking his head slightly in sadness.

"I haven't seen your father in ages. That man hardly ever comes to Court! Come to think of it, I didn't even know he had a second child..."

Natsuki heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness her father was a recluse and seldom attended Court, or her cover would have been blown even before starting her first lesson.

"My father loves the countryside, Sir."

"Ah yes. When we were studying as pages, he always complained that the air in the city was not fresh enough. Maybe I should pay that man a visit sometime to reminisce the past," He chuckled softly.

"Back to the topic. Well, you are officially accepted into the Knight School. This will be the place where we turn boys like you, who still smell of their mother's milk, into a man and a true Knight. For two years here, you will undergo training as a page. After that, your training will continue as a squire under a Knight master for another two years before coming back for a Knight examination. As a page, you will eat, sleep and train in this school. There will be no breaks for you to return home to your mummy. The journey to Knighthood will be long and arduous, are you prepared for it?"

"Yes, Sir!" No matter how tough the journey was, Natsuki was determined that her resolve to become a Knight would never waver.

"Good. Bring your belongings to the pages quarter. Room 108 will be your living quarters from now on."

He rummaged through his drawers and handed Natsuki a long bronze key with a small "108" engraved into it.

"Now, I will need to find you one of the older pages as your sponsor to show you around the castle grounds. Let's see…"

Just then, a handsome dark haired boy walked into the room. He had shiny black hair, chisel sharp features, dark gray eyes and carried an air of royalty.

"You called for me, Sir?"

"Ah yes, Reito. Perfect timing! Take this letter to the messenger office to be delivered. Also, this boy here has newly enrolled into the school. Will you be his sponsor? Just show him where the important places are and the likes."

"It will be my honor, Sir," Reito replied and gave Natsuki a small smile. The headmaster then slid the parchment he had been working on into an envelope and handed it to Reito. Before long, they were out of the headmaster's office and Reito was giving Natsuki a tour of the castle grounds.

"Say, we haven't properly introduced yet. I'm Reito Kanzaki. You can call me Reito. What's yours?"

"Natsuki. Natsuki Kruger."

"Natsuki? That's a pretty girly name for guy isn't it?" He asked, thinking he had heard it wrong.

Natsuki blushed. "I was born in summer and so my parents named me that. Also for the fact that it rhymes with my brother's name, Natsume." Praying that her half-truth might work through.

"Natsume? Natsume Kruger? You are kidding me right?" Reito asked, an incredulous look on his face.

"Yes, he's my brother," replied Natsuki, confused at Reito's surprise.

"He's a legend here! He was awarded the best knight award for his services in the war against the Scanvians. He's my hero!" Reito exclaimed, and Natsuki could not help but be amused that he acted like an excited schoolgirl when talking about her brother.

They continued the tour and while walking along the stone corridors, Natsuki realized that the castle was not as grand on the inside as on the outside. Although certain places like the Court where important people gathered were decorated and furnished grandiosely, most areas were shabby and old. The walls of corridors were dirty and stained gray with old age and dirt.

"This is the infirmary. Remember this place cause this is where you can find the healer," said Reito, as he pointed towards a white room. There were two beds and a desk inside the room. A woman was sitting behind the desk, seeming to be busy holding onto a jar and focusing her concentration on it.

"That woman is Master Youko Helene. She is our resident Master Healer. I think she's busy making magical cream for faster recovery of wounds," Reito whispered softly to Natsuki, not wanting to disturb Master Youko's concentration.

The healer's name rang a bell in Natsuki's head.

"Excuse me for a second, Reito. My father is a close friend of Master Youko and he has asked me to pass her a letter of greeting." With that, she whipped out the last letter from her pocket in her breeches and walked into the infirmary.

Clearing her throat to get her attention, Natsuki quickly introduced herself and gave Master Youko the letter. She then rejoined Reito to continue the rest of the tour.

Reito brought her to the underground part of the castle where the blacksmiths and tailors worked. There, she got her measurements taken and was handed three sets of page uniforms. They were standard white tunics with the royal crest stitched onto them and dark brown breeches. A pair of brown leather boots was also given to her and lastly, a standard steel training sword with its edges blunted was added to her collection. They then went to Natsuki's horse carriage that was waiting outside the castle to retrieve her belongings. Reito lent a hand in carrying the luggage and together, they made their way towards the pages living quarters.

Natsuki's arms were piled so high with her baggage and uniforms that she had trouble looking ahead. Struggling to keep her balance with the heavy load while walking towards the pages quarters, she crashed into Reito, who was leading the way when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Her belongings fell unceremoniously onto the ground with a loud crash.

Natsuki was about to mutter a curse when she saw Reito make a slight bow ahead. Curious, she turned her attention towards the source of distraction and her eyes laid upon the most beautiful face she had ever seen in her life. Now, that was saying something as throughout her young life in her hometown, Natsuki was constantly praised for her unmatched beauty, and she had never seen anyone better looking than her. But the beauty of this new person took her breath away.

She had brown, copper coloured hair that seemed to give out a glow on its own, and a pair of crimson red eyes that seemed to pierce through the souls of anyone who looked into them, scorchingly intense yet terrifyingly beautiful at the same time. Her fair complexion glowed like the soft moonlight and an aura of gracefulness seemed to envelope her whole being. She was wearing a long velvet dress that fitted her form perfectly, accentuating her feminine curves and showing off her ample bosom. She appeared to be around the same age as Natsuki, at most slightly older. As she walked forwards, the hem of her dress lightly trailed the ground, giving the impression that she glided instead of walk. Natsuki thought inwardly that if she ever saw a goddess, it would be in the beautiful form of this graceful figure moving towards them. All this time, she did not notice that she was gaping open mouthed at her in awe.

"Good evening, Shizuru-sama," Reito broke the silence.

The graceful figure stopped her tracks and gave Reito a slight nod in acknowledgement.

"Good evening, Reito-kun," She replied, giving him a small smile.

Natsuki, seeing that Reito maintained his slightly bowed position, quickly followed suit and gave an awkward bow of her own.

"Ara, ara. I have never seen you before. Are you new here?" She directed her question at Natsuki, all the while surveying the raven-haired boy, her eyes betraying a hint of interest.

"I've just enrolled into the Knight School. I'm Natsuki Kruger. Nice to meet you," Natsuki replied as politely as she could. Not knowing what to do next, and unfamiliar with court etiquettes, she acted on a bizarre idea of extending a handshake.

With a bemused expression on her face, Shizuru extended her own and placed her smooth palm in Natsuki's rough one. Natsuki marveled at the smoothness of the hand that was placed in hers. It was soft and smooth as silk. Unconsciously, she squeezed her hand a little to get more of the silky feeling. Jade eyes locked onto crimson ones. The friendly handshake lasted much longer than proprietary allowed and was broken abruptly when Reito made a stern cough to remind them of the inappropriateness.

Embarrassed, Natsuki quickly stooped down to gather her belongings back into her arms. Shizuru did not know what came over her. Normally she would have left the poor page alone but this time, she uncharacteristically stooped down to help Natsuki gather her things. Too engrossed in picking up her things to hide her embarrassment, she did not notice that Shizuru was also on the floors helping her to gather her things. By the time Natsuki realized that someone else was helping her gather her things, she had looked up to find herself face to face with Shizuru, their faces mere inches apart.

What rosy lips… and her breath smells strangely of… tea… Natsuki thought to herself.

Wait-Breath? Full realization of their close proximity brought blood to infuse her chubby cheeks, causing her to blush like a tomato. She quickly sprung back from Shizuru, hands thrown back and landing on her butt. Shizuru chuckled lightly at Natsuki's funny sitting position and beet red face and promptly stood up, sweeping the dirt off her dress gracefully.

Just then, the silence was broken by a clear gentle voice.

"Shizuru-sama, we should get going. Your father is waiting."

Natsuki was so taken by Shizuru's beauty that she failed to notice there was actually another woman behind Shizuru. The woman had russet coloured hair and wore a palace maid uniform, giving the impression that she was Shizuru's personal maid.

"Indeed we should not keep him waiting. Let's go, Aoi."

With a last sweep at her dress, Shizuru carried on towards her destination. As she walked past Natsuki, Shizuru gave her one last wink before rounding a bend in the corridor and disappearing into the corner. The wink lit up another fury red blaze on Natsuki's face and she couldn't help but be annoyed that Shizuru was such a tease. She was brought out of her reverie when she felt a huge slap on her back.

"You lucky cur! I've never seen Shizuru-sama get so close to anyone before! You are lucky her fan boys are not around to see this or you won't be getting out of this school alive!" Reito exclaimed, a grin spreading on his face.

It did not come as a surprise for Natsuki that Shizuru had her own fan club. It would be a shock if that beautiful lady did not have any admirers. However, the thought that she almost got herself lynch mobbed gave her the shudders.

"By the way, who is she?" Natsuki asked, still unsure of Shizuru's identity.

"I know Kruger fiefdom is a place much de-linked from the city but I didn't know you are that much of a country bumpkin!" He said, shaking his head and continued.

"She is Shizuru Viola! Heir to the Viola Kingdom and the number one beauty in the kingdom."

"What! You mean she is OUR princess?" Natsuki asked in disbelief.

Reito nodded, amused and added.

"And you were this close to kissing her," He teased, putting his thumb and forefinger together until they were almost touching each other. Natsuki felt like wiping the stupid grin off his face in embarrassment. After gathering up her things, they managed to reach her room in the pages quarters. Once all her stuff was unpacked, Reito bade his leave to deliver the headmaster's letter to the messenger office.

Lying on her bed, she recapped the events of the day. She was glad that not only had she met a kind sponsor, for the first time in her life, she had made a friend and also had a strange encounter with the princess of this kingdom. Sleep slowly claimed her, where a certain red-eyed girl haunted her dreams.

* * *

Dawn had barely broken when a loud banging on her wooden door woke Natsuki. She quickly rose out of bed and fumbled in the dimly lit room towards the source of the ruckus. Opening the door hastily, she was greeted by the sight of a palace maid carrying a basin of water. She was informed that she had to get ready for breakfast in half an hour's time. Receiving the basin of freshly drawn water that looked icy cold, she quickly washed and dressed up in the attached bathroom, not minding the icy cold-water one bit. From young, the cold had never bothered her. It almost made her feel at home. Donning her new page uniform, she headed straight for the mess hall.

By the time she reached the mess hall, it was already fairly packed with other pages already starting on their breakfast. Carrying her tray to the cook, she was served a loaf of freshly baked bread, some cheese and a glass of milk. Scanning the milling crowd for an empty seat, she spotted Reito waving to her and pointing to an empty seat beside him. While walking over, the breakfast din seemed to have died down and Natsuki felt numerous pairs of curious eyes staring at her. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand uneasily. Although Natsuki had never been to a public school, as she was tutored at home, she had heard of bullying cases that always happened to the new kid on the block and was not at all comfortable with the curious stares that she was given. Shrugging her uneasiness away, she defiantly shot back icy glares at them in return, which seemed to scare some of them back to finishing their breakfast.

Joining Reito at his table, Natsuki was introduced to his friends around him. One of them was Ruka Nogi, who caught Natsuki's attention. He was a blondie and had charmingly delicate features that if he cross-dressed as a girl, he would look like a princess. However, what caught her attention was not his appearance but his ability to attract animals. A couple of sparrows had perched merrily on his shoulders as he ate his breakfast. She then learnt that he had magical abilities to communicate with and command animals. As if to demonstrate his point, he closed his eyes and a thin glittering green aura surrounded his body, slowly wrapping around one of the sparrows on his shoulders. The chosen sparrow then hopped onto the table and did a little tap dance. Natsuki was utterly amazed. This was the first time she had seen magic in action.

"I wish I can do that! It's so cool!"

"Magic tends to run in families, especially those with noble blood. About half the pages here have some degree of magic in them. Ruka's magic is rather rare. So are elemental types. Most pages can only harness their common magic and use them for basic healing or to strengthen their defense." Reito explained.

Smiling, a black vine-like aura wrapped around Reito's right hand and he suddenly swung his hand to the side. Out of the blue, a strong gust of wind swept through the mess hall.

"My elemental magic is wind. What's yours?"

Natsuki could feel blood rise up to her cheeks in embarrassment.

"No, I don't have any magic in me," she replied, her head hung low. She was given a pat on the back by Reito as encouragement and was reassured by the group that she did not need to have magic to become a fine Knight.

"How about Shizuru-sama?" She asked, suddenly curious. Usually she would not bother about other people's business but she did not know what in the world came over her to ask that question. She quickly dismissed it as being curious since Shizuru was one of the first few people she met here.

"So Shizuru-sama has been on your mind all this time, eh?" Reito teased and the whole table roared in laughter, making Natsuki blush furiously.

"I'll let you find out for yourself." With that, Reito and his group left the table for their lessons, leaving a very puzzled Natsuki behind.

Apparently, first and second year pages had different class schedule.

Natsuki assembled with the other first year pages at the castle stables for her first riding lesson. As she started school later than the others, she did not have any horse assigned to her yet. All the other pages had already stood beside their respective horses and were preparing to saddle them. Natsuki's heart almost leapt out of her mouth when a loud familiar voice boomed at her from behind.

"Oi! Boy! Why are you standing there like an idiot? Go get a horse and prepare to ride!"

The newly approached figure was Sir Walde, the headmaster. Natsuki quickly scanned the stables for an untaken horse. Most of the leftover horses looked old and sickly. Her gaze finally rested on a fairly large horse that was snow white in colour. It had shiny black eyes and its white fur looked glossy and smooth. Although the large size of the horse is rather daunting as the back of the horse was even taller than Natsuki herself, it was easily the healthiest and most spirited horse than the rest of the left over sickly ones.

The white horse released a snort of annoyance when Natsuki approached it. Deciding that she would take this horse, she started saddling it. Having zero experience with horses, Natsuki had a hard time translating how she had seen, from the stablehands saddling horses, into practice. After a couple of slip-ups, wrong knots and loud snickers from the pages nearby, she finally managed to saddle it.

She then tried to mount the horse. Putting one leg on the stirrup, she grabbed the side of the saddle and hoisted herself up. When she was about to swing her other leg over, she lost her balance on the stirrup and fell down face first onto the ground with a loud thud. Loud guffaws from the nearby pages ensued, particularly from a boy with mixed black and yellow hair beside her. Frustrated, Natsuki made a few more attempts to mount the horse, failing miserably each time. She could feel an impatient stare boring holes at her back, followed by the impatient tapping of foot coming from Sir Walde.

Mustering her determination one last time, she repeated the mounting process and almost failed again if she had not grabbed onto the horse's mane in time before she fell over. The horse reared up in pain when it felt its mane being pulled. Natsuki hung desperately on the horseback with her hands wrapped around its neck to avoid being thrown off by the horse. This brought up another roar of laughter from the pages. Once the horse had settled down, she righted her position as she stroked the horse along its neck to soothe it. They looked a ridiculous sight, a very dirty Natsuki sitting in stark contrast to a pure white horse.

"Alright, we have wasted enough time. Now ride your horses at a trot to the other end of the field! Go!" barked Sir Walde.

All the pages started moving their horses out of the stables and towards the field. Natsuki used her leg to nudge the side of her horse, willing it to go forward. However, the horse ignored her command and continued staying put. Panicking, she nudged the horse a little harder. The horse snorted in annoyance, not responding to her command. Sir Walde raised an eyebrow at the sole figure still staying put in the stables. Natsuki gave an even harder nudge this time and yanked the reins hard. Without warning, the annoyed horse tore out of the stables at full speed, chasing the other horses, and forcing Natsuki to struggle for balance.

"Kruger! I said TROT not GALLOP!"

"I can't help it!" Natsuki yelled back, her voice overflowing with fear and excitement. The horse was galloping at breakneck speed, taking Natsuki with it.

For the first time in her life, Natsuki felt a sense of unrestrained freedom as she rode on the horse. The world around her was a blur at the speed she was moving. The wind slapped across her face and made her eyes sting. She could feel the power of her steed as it moved under her, strong and steady and a feeling of exhilaration filled her being. She almost laughed aloud when she saw her horse playfully tried to bite the tails of the other horses in front.

They finally stopped at the end of the field, her horse hardly breaking out in sweat, while Natsuki was panting profusely from the excitement and effort of keeping her balance on the wild horse. The other pages joined them shortly, followed by the Sir Walde on his own chestnut horse. Sir Walde was glaring daggers at Natsuki for disobeying his orders, making Natsuki gulp in fear. The page with yellow and black hair snickered at her predicament and was quickly silenced when Natsuki gave him an icy death glare. The rest of the riding lesson took up the entire morning and throughout the entire session, Natsuki had to fight to stay on top of her uncooperative horse as it would try to throw her off whenever it had the chance. They were then released for lunch and Natsuki was given extra duties to clean the stables after dinner for disobeying orders.

Lunch was a quick affair. She met up with Reito and his gang and shared her morning experience. Ruka offered to help with her problematic horse but Natsuki politely declined. She deemed it as her own responsibility to tame her own horse. If she couldn't even tame her own horse, how could she be a Knight? They then parted for their separate afternoon classes.

* * *

Afternoon classes were usually classroom sessions. Natsuki arrived slightly earlier than required, so there were still plenty of seats left in the classroom to choose from. She picked a table at the backend corner of the classroom and waited for the rest of the pages to file in. She was pleasantly surprised when she caught sight of a person with chestnut hair and crimson red eyes. She did not see Shizuru in the morning riding lesson so she had assumed that the princess did not join the pages in their training.

Shizuru was surrounded by a group of pages as she gracefully strolled into the classroom. All the rest of the pages swarmed around her when she entered the classroom. It sickened Natsuki to see the pages fawning over the princess and saying obvious compliments like, "Shizuru-sama, you are very beautiful today." Of course she is beautiful! Duh! Natsuki screamed in her head. As Shizuru walked to her seat, she gave polite smiles to the pages who complimented her.

Maybe it was a countryside thing with its simple people, but Natsuki could differentiate a real smile from a fake one, and Natsuki could tell the one Shizuru gave to her admirers were not genuine. To Natsuki, her mouth smiled but her eyes did not follow through. However, Natsuki felt oddly jealous whenever Shizuru gave some of her trademark winks that she had given her the night before, to the other pages.

Shizuru's eyes scanned the room for the cute raven-haired boy she had met the previous night. Although he looked charming, he was not as handsome as Reito but somehow, Shizuru found herself strangely attracted to him. There was this mysterious aura around him that piqued her interest. She finally found the object of her interest at the back end corner of the classroom. Giving him a bright smile, she waved at him.

Natsuki awkwardly returned her wave. A warm feeling crept into her heart when she saw that the smile Shizuru had given her was genuine and different from the rest. She blushed a bit and Shizuru's smile grew even wider.

Everyone settled into his or her desks when the Master walked in, and proceeded to teach Arithmetic. Arithmetic was important as Knights needed to calculate supplies needed for war. Back home, it was Natsuki's best subject. However, Natsuki couldn't help but keep dozing off during the lesson due to the strenuous morning activity and the afternoon heat. Often times, her quill would poke her eye when her face fell forward while dozing off, eliciting a loud yell of pain from her and earning her glares from the Master, followed by laughter from the whole class. In Shizuru's eyes, the sleepy Natsuki was just too adorable.

Classes finally ended and Natsuki was given extra homework for sleeping in class. Her first official day as a page and she already had been given extra duties twice! Natsuki couldn't help but groan at her bad luck and amount of work she needed to do. She watched as Shizuru was escorted out of the classroom by yet another crowd of her admirers.

When Natsuki had eaten her dinner, she headed straight for the stables to do her punishment. After a long day, all her muscles were sore and tired, and the work in the stables did not help one bit. Once she had made sure that the stables were thoroughly cleaned, she walked over to her white horse and pulled out an apple from her pocket, which she had sneaked out from the mess hall. Putting the apple in front of its mouth, the horse wasted no time in eating it, but not forgetting to bite Natsuki's hand at the same time.

"Difficult, aren't you?" Natsuki muttered, rubbing her bitten hand. "But I will tame you," she said, looking into the horse's eyes. The white horse just blew its lips, spraying Natsuki with its spit. Resigned, she wiped the spit off her face as she trudged back to her room. Damn, she still had extra homework to do!

On the way back, she heard a loud crash near the pages quarters. She hurried towards the source of the crash, bringing her to a secluded part of the quarters. Two burly boys were each pinning down another boy on the ground. She instantly recognized that one of the boys sprawling on the ground was the yellow and black haired page who had been mean to her during the morning practice. The two boys on the ground were now grimacing in pain as their abusers started punching them on the face.

Natsuki was in a dilemma. On one hand, she knew that the boys would not be in any life-threatening situation that would warrant her immediate help. Not to forget that one of them had been nasty to her. On the other hand, bullying did not seem right and the act of walking away when her help was needed seemed even more wrong.

She was sorely tempted to leave the bullying scene and let the mean boy get what he deserved. Furthermore, after the exhaustive day, her body was in no condition to even lift a finger, let alone fight. Also, she would be courting her own trouble if she messed in their business, and it was likely that her interference would go unappreciated.

Should she help or just walk away, pretending not to notice?

* * *

**End of Chapter Three**

Thanks for staying with me so far. Hope you enjoyed it :)

Anyone can guess where Ruka Nogi and Gwendal Walde came from?

Reviews will be greatly appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

**A/N: **Thanks for all the kind reviews so far! Before i forget, aceding the request of chum-sa, Ruka Nogi and Natsume came from Gakuen Alice and Gwendal Walde came from Kyou Kara Maou. Cookies to all those that have guessed correctly! Here's the latest installment. Enjoy!

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To help or not to help? It was a question bothering her. Natsuki watched in silence as the two boys continued being pummeled. One blow, two blows. The boys let out yells of pain. Natsuki winced in sympathy for each blow they received. She had half a mind to render help but the menacing bullies seemed too much for her to handle alone. Getting herself into the brawl will be like throwing eggs at rocks. It will be a futile effort. Another blow, this time, the black haired boy coughed out blood. She could see tears forming in their eyes. It might be the bloodlust, for the bullies did not seem to be stopping their antics anytime soon.

"This is what you get for not doing your errands properly. Stupid first years can't even get us a proper snack from the kitchens. Take this as a lesson." The bullies snickered and got up from pinning the boys, now turning to kicking them on their torsos.

Natsuki closed her eyes. This is too much! They got this beating just because they did not manage to sneak out foods from the kitchens? To hell with minding my own business! Natsuki got out of her place of hiding and stomped towards the bullies.

"Stop it! Or I'll call the Masters!" She threatened.

"Another first year? Don't spoil our fun. Go away or you will be sorry."

Refusing to back down, Natsuki took up a fighting stance. One of the bullies threw a punch at her. She dodged it easily and making use of his temporary state of imbalance, she swept her leg, kicking said boy on his shin. The boy fell head over heels on the ground from the impact. At the same time, the other bully made a lunge for her. Unable to dodge, she braced herself for the impact. The heavy blow landed on the side of her arm, almost knocking her off balance. Pain seared through her already aching limb.

Willing the pain away, she swung a blow at the side of her attacker's face with her uninjured hand. Her punch landed squarely on the attacker's side cheek. However, the punch only managed to graze her attacker slightly. Her attacker was now giving off a faint white glow enveloping his whole body. A smirk grew on his face. Natsuki instantly realized that this was the defense magic that Reito was talking about this morning. No wonder her punch had no effect on him!

"First years never learn why they can't take on older boys," He laughed, sounding eerily like a hyena. It was his turn now to counter attack and he wasted no time in raining blows on her. He had a full year of training ahead of Natsuki. There was no way Natsuki could match his strong and fast blows and fighting techniques, and could only resort to blocking his attacks desperately with her bare arms. The other bully who had recovered from the fall watched the one sided fight from the sides with amusement.

Damn him! My attacks will not have much effect on him! Shit! Natsuki thought, as she continued fending off his attacks. If he's fighting dirty with magic, then I will fight dirty too! Her mind screamed in rage. Seeing an opening, she shot out a low kick with as much strength as she could gather. The tip of her foot made contact with her attacker's groin. There was a sickening crunch. Her attacker released a bloodcurdling high pitch yelp and crumpled onto the ground in a fetal position, both hands grabbing his crotch. Tears were streaming down his face and his voice was screaming murder.

His companion saw the turn of events and knocked Natsuki onto the ground from behind. Picking up from where his friend left behind, he continued his relentless assault on a surprised Natsuki, totally unprepared for his attacks. Natsuki could hear her ribs cracking as heavy blows continuously landed on her. Pain overtook her whole being. The boy whom she had injured had partially recovered from his pain and joined in the bashing with murder in his eyes.

Natsuki's interference had given the previous victims enough time to recover from their injuries. Seeing their savior get ganged up two on one and being beaten to a pulp, they dragged their wounded bodies towards her and attempted to drag her attackers off her. Chaos ensued as the fight turned into a five man brawl. However, both the first years were soon no match for the older boys and were flung helpless onto the ground behind.

Natsuki did not know how long her beating continued. The only thing she felt were just waves after waves of pain crashing through her body as her body was mercilessly assaulted. She could feel life draining out of her, as her breathing got shallower with each additional blow. Her vision swam and got darker and darker until the darkness slowly overtook her. The last thing she remembered was a strange feeling of coolness enveloping her being before slowly drifting out of consciousness.

The temperature in the surrounding air suddenly dipped to subzero. The bullies stared wide-eyed at Natsuki as her unconscious body slowly emitted a faint glow of bright blue. Huge blocks of ice encased the fists of the attackers, freezing their hands. Pain streaked through their fingers from the biting cold of the ice. Hurriedly, they backed away from Natsuki and fled the scene, all the while shrieking in pain. The ice slowly melted from their hands, as they got further away from Natsuki.

Everything happened so fast that the two previous victims could not register what went on. They only felt a weird cold descending upon them and the next thing they knew, the bullies had run away screaming in pain. By the time their attention had returned to Natsuki, she was no longer glowing blue, but was lying on the ground in an unconscious heap. They were totally clueless on what happened.

* * *

By the time Natsuki had regained consciousness, she found herself being supported on the shoulders of the bully victims, as they carried her along a castle corridor. On her left was the yellow and black haired boy while on her right was a black haired boy with a tiny cross shape scar on his face. Remembering her situation, she immediately tensed.

"Relax, the bullies are gone," the yellow and black haired boy reassured smilingly.

"Thanks a lot for lending a hand," the black haired boy said meekly.

"It's no big deal. Besides, I didn't really save you all. I blacked out. What happened? They left us alone after making sure that we are all gravely injured?" Natsuki inquired.

"We have no idea either. There was suddenly this freezing cold and then the next thing we know, the bullies ran away from the scene." The yellow and black haired boy shrugged.

"By the way, I'm Tate and he's Takeda. I'm sorry for laughing so loudly at you this morning," said the yellow and black haired boy.

"Apology accepted," Natsuki beamed, the effort made her grimace in pain from her injuries.

"Where are we going?"

"The infirmary. You need to get your ribs looked at." Tate informed.

* * *

At the infirmary, Master Youko looked over the injuries of each one of them. A ball of bright white light engulfed her hand. As the bright light traveled across their wounds, the damaged tissues started to repair themselves at a rapid speed. Master Youko spent a much longer time to fix up Natsuki as she had a few of her ribs broken and multiple fractures on other parts of her body. Once everyone was patched up nicely, she sighed and said.

"So, tell me how you guys get so badly injured?"

Natsuki was about to answer when Tate stopped her and replied.

"We fell while running down the stairs."

"Oh, that must be a really BAD fall?" She raised one questioning eyebrow at them.

"Yeah. We kind of toppled on one another." Tate gave her a sheepish look.

"I see. Well, in any case, I hope you guys know that fighting is not allowed here. It's getting late, I suggest you all return to bed."

She then waved them out of the infirmary. When they got outside, they heard her mutter.

"Do they think I look stupid? Fall down my ass."

The three of them had to suppress their laughter when they heard it. As they walked back to their quarters, Tate explained to Natsuki that it was an implicit rule that pages do not tell on one another, not even if he was bullied. Natsuki felt that this rule was ridiculous. Nonetheless she complied with the rule, since as the saying went, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." By the time Natsuki fell into bed, she was already feeling extremely tired and hungry, which was rather conflicting since she wanted to stay in bed all day and yet wished that it would be morning soon so she could have her breakfast.

The next day, she was surprised to find Tate and Takeda waiting eagerly outside her door.

"Let's have breakfast together!"

"Er… but I usually have breakfast with Reito and gang," She replied, scratching her head.

Tate and Takeda looked so crestfallen that Natsuki could not refuse them.

"How about you guys join us for breakfast too?" She offered.

"That will be great!" Both of them smiled radiantly.

"I can't believe that we are having breakfast with Reito-kun," Tate said dreamily.

"Huh? Are you that honored to be eating with him?" Natsuki asked, puzzled.

"Of course! Reito-kun is third in line to the throne after Shizuru-sama. If we get seen eating with him, we will never get picked on again!" Tate replied in an excited tone.

So that explains why the older boys haven't picked on me yet! Natsuki thought, secretly glad that Reito was her sponsor. After the near run in to death last night, she did not relish the thought of being picked on very much.

Tate and Takeda were warmly welcomed into the group at the breakfast table.

"My, my. The three of you looked colourful today. Had fun last night?" Reito teased.

All three of them blushed furiously, causing a chorus of laughter at their table. Like her first day with Reito, Tate and Takeda were fascinated by Ruka's animal magic. Natsuki ignored them to focus solely on her food. She was so hungry she could eat a horse. The healing session last night had taken a toll on her appetite as she finished plates after plates of her breakfast, surprising the cook for thirds and even fourths.

"Hey, cool it kiddo. At this rate, you are going to turn into a fat pig!" Reito teased again, eliciting another round of laughter at the table.

"I'm still a growing child!" Natsuki protested, face blushing a deep tomato red.

"Hey Natsuki, we better get going for our classes," Tate said, after checking the time on the clock in the mess hall.

"Why so early? There's still at least fifteen minutes before lesson starts," Natsuki asked, in between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs.

"If we don't get there early, we might not even get to see a glimpse of Shizuru-sama! Her fan boys are bound to block our view of her!" Tate said in a dreamy tone with starry eyes and hands clasped together, the perfect picture of a fan boy infatuated with Shizuru. Natsuki swore she could see tiny hearts dancing around his head. Takeda just shrugged at his friend's unabashed show of admiration.

"She join us for physical lessons?" Natsuki asked in surprised, her heart grew warm at the thought of seeing Shizuru later.

"Only for the archery ones. Oh I can't wait to see her graceful figure stringing the bows! I wish she can string me!" Tate swooned.

Natsuki felt a teeny bit of annoyance at Tate's reaction.

Wait- Why am I getting annoyed? Tate's my friend! Why am I upset over someone liking Shizuru. Not like I love Shizuru or anything! Natsuki screamed in her head. An image of Shizuru floated into her mind. Natsuki's heart subconsciously started racing. No! Bad heart bad! Stop beating so fast! No I can't be in love with her! I'm not her fan boy! This is impossible! I'm a girl and she's a girl! I can't have fallen for her!

Tate grew impatient as Natsuki carried on her mental debate. Seeing that his friend seemed to be in a dazed, he grabbed her by the scruff of her collar and dragged her at her heels towards the training field, with Takeda following close behind. All the while, Natsuki was chanting in her mind like a mantra, "I don't love her… I don't love her… I don't love her…"

Natsuki was still in a daze by the time she reached the archery-training field. Quite a number of pages had also turned up early to catch a glimpse of their beloved Shizuru. When Shizuru made her entrance, Natsuki's mind stopped thinking. All her attention just centered on Shizuru, seeing nothing else but her. She was not wearing a dress today. Instead, she wore a mauve tunic that fitted snugly on her curves and a pair of dark purple breeches, which clung onto her thighs and lower legs tightly, showing off her trim and long legs.

Natsuki's heart raced faster and faster as Shizuru got closer and closer to her. She stopped in front of Natsuki and greeted her cheerfully.

Natsuki wanted to reply her greetings but something seemed to catch at her throat and she couldn't find her voice to reply.

"…Good…morning," She finally managed to stutter out stupidly.

Shizuru chuckled at the tense response and Natsuki could feel her face turn scarlet from the blushing.

"Ara, ara. Did Natsuki bathe in paint today?" Shizuru teased, causing Natsuki to blush even harder.

Natsuki did not know what to say so she shook her head vehemently. Another chuckle. Her blush darkened. Their eyes met and lingered on each other's eyes for a moment too long. Concern filled Shizuru's eyes and Natsuki felt a sense of warmth creeping up in her heart, her heart now thumping madly.

"Can I touch them?" Shizuru asked.

Natsuki nodded.

Shizuru lifted her hand and brushed across one of Natsuki's bruises gently. Natsuki felt a jolt of electricity pass through the bruise Shizuru touched. Her heart speed revved up a few notches and she thought she would faint right there from the touch. It was so soft and gentle. When Shizuru lifted her hand away from bruise, Natsuki instantly missed the warmth of her touch.

"Does it hurt?" Shizuru asked.

Natsuki shook her head in reply. A wave of relief flashed across Shizuru's face. Somehow, Natsuki's heart ached at her concern.

Shizuru then gave Natsuki a happy smile and Natsuki felt like melting into a puddle right in front of her. Stepping closer, Shizuru placed her face dangerously close to Natsuki's ears, and whispered. She could feel Shizuru's breath on her ears and caught a whiff of her lavender perfume, sending her brain into a haze.

"Ara, Natsuki, there's a little bit of drool at the corner of your mouth."

Natsuki's whole body instantly turned a bright shade of pink in embarrassment and she quickly wiped off her saliva with the back of her hand. Shizuru chuckled at Natsuki's reaction, her eyes twinkling with merriment.

They were interrupted when Sir Walde arrived on the training ground. Pointing to the row of targets behind him, he ordered each page to a target. Shizuru's admirers quickly surrounded her, urging her to choose a target beside them. Natsuki ended up choosing a target in between Tate and Takeda, while Shizuru was taken to a far corner of the archery range.

"This is so unfair! How come you get special treatment from Shizuru-sama? I got injured too!" Tate complained. Natsuki could only shrug her shoulders in reply. She didn't know why either.

The short separation from Shizuru got her mind back into functioning. Ultimately, we are both girls. I can't have fallen for a girl right? All my strange reactions, they may be because I find her beautiful. Who doesn't like to be around beautiful beings? Natsuki reassured herself.

All the pages except Natsuki had undergone basic archery training. She was the only one who did not know what to do with her bow and arrows. Fumbling with her bow and arrows, she watched as Tate stood in position, aimed and drew the arrow back with his fingers. He then released the arrow, and it sailed through the air, narrowly missing the big round target. The archery range was now a rain of arrows as all the pages shot at their targets.

Imitating what Tate did, she got into the same position as Tate and extended her bow arm. Opening her feet wide, she hooked the arrow onto the arrow rest and attached the back of the arrow to the nock. She then drew the arrow back as far as she could with all her strength until it was all the way to her shoulder. Her bow hand trembled slightly with the holding force of the bow as she aimed at her target. She then released her fingers on the arrow. The arrow flew high in the air and followed an arc shape motion. Three quarters way to the target, it lost speed and plunged headfirst into the ground, sticking out unsightly. Her next few attempts continued to be a disaster as arrow after arrow missed its target blatantly and some even flew over to other people's targets.

Natsuki could feel her face burn in shame as she was the only one having difficulty getting close to her target. She was about to give up and deemed herself a failure at archery when Sir Walde boomed at her.

"Boy! Get over here and look at how Shizuru does it!"

Natsuki hung her head low in shame and walked over to Shizuru's side. Shizuru had put on a pair of leather gloves to protect her delicate hands from calluses. Loading her bow, she drew the arrow all the way to under her chin in one fluid motion. It only took her a few seconds to aim and she quickly released the arrow. The arrow whizzed into the air and hit the target dead on its center with a dull thud.

Natsuki's eyes grew wide in amazement. Shizuru's movement was graceful and wasted no unnecessary action. She could admire Shizuru's shooting all day if not for Sir Walde's stern cough to break her out of her reverie. Gulping, Natsuki went back to her own target and imitated Shizuru's movements as best as she could. This time, instead of drawing the arrow all the way to her shoulder, she drew it to her chin as Shizuru did. Not drawing her arrow too far back helped Natsuki's bow hand to not tremble from the holding onto the fully drawn bow. She aimed and released. The arrow managed to sail all the way to the target and beyond, narrowly missing the edge of the target.

Beaming with confidence, she shot a few more times but all the arrows kept missing the target by mere inches. She wanted to scream in frustration. All the other pages' targets had at least one arrow on them while Natsuki's looked good as new. The lesson lasted the whole morning and still there was not a single arrow on Natsuki's target. However, the ground around her target was littered with countless arrows. Natsuki could feel that Sir Walde was deeply displeased with her poor performance and she was angry at herself for being such a failure. When lessons ended, Tate and Takeda tried to cheer Natsuki up but to no avail.

As they passed by Shizuru to get to the mess hall, Shizuru's hand brushed past Natsuki's hand and Natsuki felt something being pressed up against her palm. It was done so quickly that no one saw anything unusual going on. The thing felt like a crumpled piece of scrap parchment. Holding it preciously in her fist, she continued her walk down for lunch.

All through lunch, Natsuki was very distracted. She could not find a chance to look at the thing Shizuru had given her. Keeping it safely in the pocket of her breeches, she decided that she would take a look at it later at night. They then went for their afternoon lessons and Natsuki looked forward to seeing Shizuru again in class.

In the classroom, Natsuki went back to her favorite backend corner. This time, Tate and Takeda joined her. They were joking around, talking about random things as Natsuki patiently waited for Shizuru to enter. However, by the time the class bell had rung and the Master had come into the room, there was still no sight of certain brunette. Natsuki's face fell in disappointment.

"Wow, you look like a deserted puppy," Tate commented. Natsuki ignored his comment.

"Natsuki is turning into a fan boy! Natsuki is turning into a fan boy!" He teased in a singsong voice, knowing full well that Natsuki was upset over Shizuru's absence. Natsuki shot him an icy death glare to silence him.

"Come on! Stop denying that you admire her. I saw you drooling over her this morning! I don't mind Shizuru-sama's fan club getting bigger though," Tate grinned. Natsuki blushed furiously.

"Don't worry. You only won't see her for classroom classes on this day of the week," Takeda informed.

"How come?"

"Because she is attending magic lessons in another class."

Dang! All the more makes me want to have magic! Natsuki sighed unhappily. She was jolted out of her thoughts when the Master placed a basin of water on top of her desk.

"This is a class for non magic pages. Pages with magic will attend magic classes in another room. Since you are new, I need to test whether you have magic."

"Erm… how do I get tested?"

"Just place your hands on both sides of the basin and focus fully on the water inside. If anything happens to the water, we will know the nature of your magic. The most common types will be ripples. If you are an elemental type, the water will show the nature of your element." The Master smiled.

Natsuki quickly did as she was told and concentrated as hard as she could at the water. Everyone waited with bated breath for the water to show any signs of disturbance. They waited. And waited. But the still water did not seem to even break out in a single ripple.

"I think that's enough. Welcome to the class, Natsuki-kun." The Master tried to smile as warmly as he could, hoping that Natsuki would be less disappointed.

"Natsuki-kun, can you kindly replace the basin back onto that shelf?" The Master asked, pointing to a shelf at the other corner of the classroom. Natsuki obliged, her shoulders slumping forward in disappointment as she carried the basin of water back to its original place.

Although they did not have magic lessons, the contents of the class was about identifying the weakness and strengths of mages so that in case they were to fight with mages, they knew how to handle them. Also, they were taught on how to cooperate with other mages or mage knights and tactics on how to effectively use them in case they commandeered a platoon with mages or mage knights under them.

The basin of water was left forgotten at the secluded corner and not a single soul noticed the water of condensation that had formed around the basin. If it were anyone else but Natsuki who had carried the basin, they would have felt the abnormally cold temperature of the water, but not cold enough to form ice yet.

Night came and it was the pages' free time for their own activities. Most of them would spend the time doing their homework or practicing their various skills such as sword fighting, riding and shooting. As for Natsuki, once she had completed all the extra homework she was given the day before, she decided to go to the stables to check on her horse.

Ruka had given her tips on horse grooming to help improve the relationship between rider and horse. Bringing all the necessary tools, she proceeded to give her horse the best grooming it ever received, giving the horse a massage at every possible places she could reach and scrubbing the horse clean of any dirt. When she was done, the horse looked sparkly white and seemed to be in a good mood. Testing the improvement in relationship, she brought out yet another apple for her horse to snack on. This time, the horse did not outright bite her hand, although it still nibbled her fingers a little. Laughing at her horse's stubbornness, she stroked its face gently and the horse neighed in contentment.

A cool gust of wind blew into the open stables. Seeing that the poor animal was shivering from the biting cold of the night wind, Natsuki went back to her quarters to retrieve her seldom used blanket and draped it over her horse. The horse used its head to nudge at Natsuki happily and promptly settled down onto the ground to rest. Natsuki followed suit and lay against its blanketed side.

Recapping about the events of the day, she remembered the crumpled piece of parchment that she had hidden in her pocket. She quickly took it out and read its contents.

"Meet me at the royal rose garden on Sunday 9am. I can teach you how to shoot well. From, Shizuru Viola."

Natsuki could not contain her excitement. This little note from Shizuru made her day! Oh my God! She offered to teach me! And I'll get to be with her one on one too! She almost squealed out loud in her glee. Natsuki had never felt so happy in her life before. She was grinning so hard that her cheeks hurt. Giving her horse a fierce hug, she lay down against its side again and started daydreaming about what would happen on Sunday, before slowly drifting off to sleep with a happy smile on her face.

**End of Chapter Four**

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Thanks for reading this chapter :)

As i re-read my past chapters, i felt that they seemed rather boring. Suggestions on how to improve my writing / content to make this fic less boring will be welcomed! Needed opinions on what you guys want to read more on and what not to include or found too boring or unnecesary to read. Thanks alot!

Once again, reviews will be greatly appreciated! :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

**A/N:** Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Had a hard time writing this chappie :X Here's a slightly longer chappie to compensate for the delay :) Also, thanks for kind reviews and suggestions last chap! I might incorporate some wonderful suggestions into the fic hehe :D Without further ado, here's the latest chapter!

**Note:** Assuming Natsuki reached the school on Monday night, it will be wednesday for chapter 4.

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Thursday

_Natsuki knew that she was dreaming when she found herself in an unfamiliar place surrounded by weird looking buildings that did not seem to belong to her world. She had had many of such dreams before where she felt like a traveler in her dreams, viewing the inner workings of her mind in third person mode. Just to make sure, she pinched her arm but felt nothing from it. This was definitely a dream. She smiled to herself. She liked the feeling of being able to think rationally in her dreams. Even if these dreams were totally bizarre and random, being able to think rationally helped to make everything less frightening. She could even laugh at her own silly imagination that her brain made up without her consent._

_Inspecting her surroundings carefully, she realized that her brain had conjured a scene of one of the fantasy novels she used to read when she was bored to death from the Lady training sessions. Back then, she had relied heavily on those fantasy novels to escape from the dull and uninteresting (safe in her mother's opinion) life she led._

_The buildings were made of materials that she had never seen before. The walls were smooth and yet did not seem like they were made of stone or bricks. Furthermore, the buildings were as tall as mountains and they seemed to be touching the skies. Around her, people were wearing tunics and breeches or dresses just like reality. She was thankful that her imagination did not come up with something like people wearing banana suits._

_However, it did come very close to ridiculous proportions where she saw these people started moving around inside square looking metallic objects. She can't help but chuckle at the recognition that these are the so-called 'cars' that her favorite fantasy author had described and used many times in his book. If cars were here in her imagination, then 'it' should also appear in her dreams. 'It' was the favorite mode of transport the heroine in the book used. Perhaps it appeared in her dreams in the form of a flying broomstick? She scanned her surroundings looking for 'it'._

_Miraculously, 'it' appeared suddenly beside her. It was shiny and metallic just like she used to imagine, with two wheels and had a cushy seat in the middle. She hopped onto it eagerly and 'it' started to move on its own. She was zooming around the area so fast her eyes could not follow her surroundings. Everything was just a colorful blur._

_Once or twice, she almost crashed into the people on the streets, an elderly woman and a pregnant lady respectively. 'It' swerved in the nick of time, slanting dangerously low such that she could almost touch the ground on her side. She was surprised that she was not thrown off from its slant. This was the incredibility of dreams, although she could not help but laugh aloud at the cliché ness of it all. Elderly lady? Pregnant woman? How uncreative can I get? So this is what it feels like to be the heroine zooming around on her Ducati… She thought._

_Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder and the skies turned dark and gloomy. Rain started pouring down onto the streets. She was glad that she could not feel anything in her dream. She was mistaken when she felt her face grow wet. The wetness grew, spreading from her cheeks to her forehead and even her eyes. But strangely, only her face was wet…Wait, this could not be a dream anymore._

Natsuki forced an eye open. A long and sticky tongue poked into her eye. "Oww!" She winced. Sitting up, she realized that her face was dripping with horse saliva. Cleaning her face with her sleeve, she eyed her horse curiously. When did it get so affectionate? More importantly, do horses even lick? She shook her head in amusement and disbelief. Its actions reminded her of Duran and a pang of longing hit her. Her horse was still lying on the ground snugly under her blanket, with its limbs neatly tucked in.

Everything went white for a split second, followed by a low rumble of thunder. Natsuki then noticed that it was raining cats and dogs outside the stables. Dawn had barely broken but the skies were still covered in ominous looking clouds. Not wanting to get drenched, she decided to wait it out. Besides, if it continued to rain that badly, field classes would be called off anyway.

After awhile, the storm went as quickly as it came. Seeing that she still had quite some time left before breakfast, she saddled her horse and decided to go for a spin in the direction of the royal woods. Her horse was particularly obedient today. Could it be that her sincerity had moved it? She wondered.

As she rode her horse, she felt the cool breeze of the crisp morning air caress her face. Picking up speed, she raced through the woods, enjoying fully the speed of her ride. The sights, sounds and smells of nature, overtook her senses. A feeling of nostalgia washed over her as she remembered her days back in the Kruger estate. Just then, a familiar feeling of déjà vu hit her. The exhilarating thrills of the ride, the blur of colors and the sense of freedom… why didn't it occur to me earlier? She smiled to herself.

After making sure her horse was properly fed and watered, she hurried to the mess hall to join her friends for breakfast.

"You seem to be in a particularly good mood today," Takeda noted.

"Yeah…" Natsuki replied in between bites. " I've finally thought of a name for my horse." A grin spread across her features.

"About time too. What have you decided to call it? Snowy?" Takeda asked. This brought a roar of laughter from her friends.

Natsuki shook her head smugly. "Ducati."

"That's a rather unusual name," Tate commented.

Natsuki just shrugged her shoulders and continued with her breakfast, happy that she had found the perfect name for her horse.

* * *

At the training field…

"Sword fighting is not about using your arms only! It's a combination of your arms, your legs and your stance! If any part of it is weak, you lose your sword and your life! Do I make myself clear?" Sir Walde barked.

"Yes, Sir!" The pages replied in unison.

"I do not want to see anyone lose their grip on their swords. If I see anyone dropping his sword, it is ten rounds around the field!" He warned.

All the pages gulped in fear. The training field was awfully big and if anyone were to run ten rounds around its perimeters, it would take at least an hour to complete without stopping. It seemed to create an opposite effect though as many pages felt their palms turn sweaty from fear, making it harder for them to keep their grip on their swords.

They then started the standard practice of wielding their swords in three basic movements to build up their foundations. Natsuki held the steel training sword in her hand, testing its weight. It was not as heavy as she expected. Her right palm wrapped around the sword grip and she started going through the routine motions.

Strike, thrust, block. Strike, thrust, block. Natsuki welcomed the mundane actions and lost herself in the rhythm. Ever since she started school, this was the only thing that she did not humiliate herself in. The actions were simple and required no thinking on her part. It felt nice for a change to just fully concentrate on her hand and her sword and nothing else, giving her a respite from all the sudden changes in her life.

This went on for quite some time and many pages were starting to feel the strain of the additional weight of the sword in their hand. Both Tate's and Takeda's hands trembled as they wielded their swords. Thankfully for Natsuki, she had not started to feel the strain yet. She attributed her extra staying power from her favorite pastime of roaming the Kruger estate and climbing trees. Unknowingly, it had helped to build up her stamina, her grip and muscles on her arms and legs. For the first time ever, Sir Walde did not cluck at her in disapproval, making her want to jump in joy.

For the later part of the morning, Sir Walde brought them to another part of the training field where there were many tall and thick wooden pillars sticking out of the ground. He then ordered each page to one pillar and proceeded to demonstrate his sword skills.

Standing in front of one of the wooden pillars, he placed one hand on the scabbard and another on the sword grip. In a flash of the eye, he drew the blade out of its scabbard and struck at the pillar. The pages only saw a flash of sunlight reflected by the sword blade and the next thing they knew, the wooden pillar had been sliced across in half. All the pages were awed by his prowess. Sheathing his sword, he then ordered the pages to start striking the wooden pillar in front of them.

After the strenuous basic training in the earlier part of the morning, most of the pages hardly had any strength left to make any clean strikes at their wooden pillars. With trembling hands, most of them only managed to make little chips at the sides of their pillars. Since Natsuki had more energy left compared to her fellow peers, she managed to make some deep cuts into her wooden pillar, but they barely made their way to half the width of the pillar, hardly reaching Sir Walde's standard. However, her impressive stamina and strong grip earned her the admiration of her peers and Sir Walde's approval. All the way until lunch break, the pages continued hacking at their pillars. By then, all of them were bushed from the exhaustive training.

In the afternoon, they had management lessons. These future knights would one day serve the Court either in battlefields or as officials since they were entitled rights as nobles to take up such positions. Those who would inherit their fiefs would also need management lessons to teach them how to run their lands well.

Good management required good understanding of their lands and what better way to start off by teaching them the history of the Viola Kingdom first? Once again, the drone of the History Master's voice was putting many pages to sleep, especially after their heavy training in the morning. Natsuki was struggling hard to stay awake. She did not want to make a fool of herself sleeping again, especially not in front of Shizuru.

From behind, Natsuki marveled at Shizuru's ability to remain attentive even during boring lessons. She would constantly raise her hands to ask questions, keeping the Master so occupied that he failed to see some of the pages already asleep, drooling on their tables. On each side of Natsuki, both Tate and Takeda were also sound asleep, snoring lightly. Her attention had drifted towards Shizuru's long luxuriant chestnut hair that hung over her chair. Rays of sunlight had caught onto her hair, dancing playfully off the surface, making her hair look soft and seeming to give out a golden glow on its own. The sight of sunlight playing on Shizuru's copper tresses was simply mesmerizing…

_Shizuru was approaching her, a smile adorning her graceful features. Natsuki returned her smile, and was pleasantly shocked when Shizuru took her hands in hers boldly. She could remember this feeling of touching Shizuru's hands. The soft, silky feeling, the warmth of her hands and the electricity passing through them that she was sure Shizuru was feeling too. Their eyes met and their gazes locked. Natsuki searched into her immense crimson pools, hoping to find an answer to a question she did not dare to ask. But Shizuru's eyes revealed nothing. They stared into each other's eyes for a long time, until Shizuru broke the silence._

_"Natsuki, touch me."_

_Natsuki blinked. What? Touch her? Her heart skipped a beat. Her hands longed to obey her command, but Natsuki was too afraid to move._

_Seeing Natsuki shocked stiff by her request, Shizuru took the initiative by taking her hands and placing them on her chest. Natsuki could feel the smooth fabric of Shizuru's dress and the beating of her heart. Shizuru then pressed down on her hands and Natsuki felt the softest things she had ever touched in the world. She longed to give them a little squeeze so that she could feel more of that wonderful feeling but managed to hold herself back._

_"Natsuki, I want to touch you too."_

_Natsuki's eyes grew wide in shock as Shizuru slowly shifted her hands to rest on her sides just above her hips. Her hands then traveled to her stomach, feeling her well-toned abs. Each time her fingers brush across the taut skin on her stomach, she could feel tiny jolts of electricity coursing through her body. Before long, Shizuru's fingers were already tucking at the top of Natsuki's breeches, ready to slip her fingers in._

_No! Shit! She will find out! The sudden realization of what Shizuru was doing finally caught onto Natsuki._

"SHIZURU!" The words escaped her mouth in a loud yell, and at the same time, her eyes sprung open and she realized too late that she had somehow fallen asleep without her knowledge and had been dreaming. Her face burned in humiliation as the class stared at her wide-mouthed. Many pages that had been asleep were also startled awake by her loud outburst. Natsuki was so embarrassed she wanted to dig a hole in the ground right away and bury herself alive in it. Many snickers followed.

As punishment for disturbing the class, Natsuki was made to stand outside the classroom while carrying two full buckets of water, each on either hand. Natsuki had never ever felt so humiliated before in her life. Not only had she announced to the whole class that she had been dreaming of Shizuru, she had also done so in Shizuru's presence and embarrassed her as well. As she walked out of the classroom, she saw that Shizuru's face was slightly pink with embarrassment and Natsuki's heart sank to the bottom of her shoes.

Damn it! Now she will think I'm some pervert having erotic dreams about her! Natsuki gave herself a mental slap. Damn! Damn! Damn! She cursed mentally as she banged the back of her head against the wall outside the classroom to punish herself for her stupidity. All the while, a pair of crimson red eyes was secretly watching her every movement and chuckling at the sight of her actions.

Outside the classroom, Natsuki pondered about the meaning of her dream. Was it trying to hint that if things were to get heated up between her and Shizuru after the training session on Sunday, would it turn out exactly the same? Would she push Shizuru away to prevent her from finding out at the critical moment? Her head ached as the questions ran around in circles in her mind. Each time she managed to come out with an explanation, it would throw back many 'ifs' back to her and throw her mind into the chaos of confusion again.

Ultimately, her confused mind managed to come out with a few critical questions that she could not answer, leading to all the so many 'ifs' that were currently plaguing her.

Do I even love her? What are these feelings that I am feeling for her? Is it love? What is love anyway? I admit that I am attracted to her but it can jolly well be an attraction towards a friend, or a feeling of admiration or wanting to be around somebody beautiful, or even just a simple infatuation or crush that will go away as easily as it comes!

Does she love me?

Natsuki recalled the few occasions where they interacted. She did wink at me a couple of times. Is that flirting? Natsuki frowned. Then why did she wink at almost every other page too? The genuine smiles that she thought she gave her could very well be her imagination too. Natsuki recalled the look of concern in her eyes when Shizuru saw her all covered in bruises. Natsuki shrugged. Her concern could just be part of her caring and gentle nature.

She recalled the special archery session promised to her. Does it mean anything special? Sure, she had never heard of any other pages given special training by Shizuru but she also had not heard of any other pages being as bad as archery as herself. Furthermore, since Shizuru would be the ruler of the kingdom one day, it was only logical of her to want to train up her knights so that they could serve her well in future. All these thoughts only served to make Natsuki more depressed as she realized that her presence might not have meant anything to Shizuru, and her frowns grew deeper.

Next came the million-dollar question. If we both love each other, what will become of us? Or rather, what can come out of it?

She thinks of me as a boy, will she really accept me for who I am? Will she even continue to love me when she finds out my identity? Or will she feel cheated that I am leading her on and betrayed her trust? Also, will I end up hurting her in the name of love? Natsuki did not dare to think further at this point. She felt swamped by all the uncertainties in her head. No matter how she looked at it, and no matter how much she hoped that they would end up falling in love, the problems that would arise once they miraculously got together seemed endless. Right now, her mind was a convoluted mess of thoughts. She could only wonder when and why she had gotten herself into such a mess. If only it was that easy to extricate herself out of it…

Back in the classroom, Shizuru was amused by the many expressions that Natsuki put on while he was deep in thought. His eyebrows were knitted but it only served to make him look more adorable than serious. And oh that frown on his face! It just screamed cute! She briefly wondered what Natsuki was thinking as his frown got deeper and deeper and she could not take her eyes off his animated expressions. This earned her a loud disapproving grunt from the Master when he saw that she was not paying attention.

At first, Shizuru had been shocked when she heard her name being shouted out from behind by none other than Natsuki. She felt rather embarrassed that Natsuki was dreaming about her. Had Natsuki been dreaming of her in an inappropriate manner? Her cheeks reddened further from the thought. Shizuru had been aware that she was the object of many erotic dreams by the many pages who admired her, but she was never bothered about it since there was no way she could control other people's thoughts, much less dreams. Although it was creepy, she took it as a compliment on her peerless beauty. But why did she feel suddenly so shy to know that Natsuki thought of her that way? It did not help when her heart increased its pace when Natsuki walked past her and out of the classroom.

Indeed, ever since she had first seen Natsuki, she had felt a certain attraction for the raven-haired pretty boy. It was a totally new feeling that she had never experienced before. Even though Reito was much more handsomer and masculine than Natsuki, she had never felt anything more than a friendly attraction towards him. Could it be that Reito was her closest cousin, which explained the lack of attraction? And the next person to match Reito's looks would have to be Natsuki, which might have explained her violent attractions towards him? Why do I want to know more of Natsuki? Why is it that when I see him all covered in bruises, even though I know they had been treated, my heart still went out to him? Why is it that whenever I see him, I feel happy all of a sudden? Why do I even go out of the way to offer to teach him archery? Is this love? Or I just have a soft spot for cute things?

With that, her eyes once again peeked at Natsuki outside, taking in his adorably cute frowning expression and a smile graced her lips unknowingly. Not wanting to make her judgments on her feelings too soon, she decided to let nature take its course and see where it will lead them.

When class finally ended, Shizuru gave Natsuki a mischievous wink as she exited into the hallways. That wink almost melted Natsuki's brain as she looked at Shizuru longingly from behind. At least it answered one of her questions. Now she knew she was definitely infatuated with Shizuru… but should she go with her feelings or deny them since she could anticipate the mess that would follow if she openly courted her?

"Oi! Stop drooling! She's gone already!" Tate said, as he gave Natsuki a pat on the back, breaking Natsuki out of her chain of thoughts. Both Tate and Takeda then helped her to dispose of the buckets of water in her hand as she flexed her sore forearms from carrying them throughout the lesson.

Throughout dinner, Natsuki remained silent as she pondered over her future course of actions. Her heart and mind were having a furious battle and either side refused to back down. The constant battling was having a toll on her head. Rubbing her temples to soothe her headache, she excused herself from her friends and dragged her exhausted self back to her room. She decided to call a truce and not think about anything to stop her headache from worsening as she curled up in bed. Shelving all her thoughts and uncertainties to the back of her mind, she closed her eyes and let sleep slowly claim her.

* * *

Friday

The next morning, Natsuki woke up feeling considerably better. Sleep appeared to be a good medicine for the troubled mind after all. Her heart felt much lighter and she was in a better frame of mind to think.

"Onichan…" She whispered softly. "What will you do if you are in my shoes?" She looked at the medallion on her side table left behind by her brother. It was purposely placed there so that every morning when she awoke, the medallion would remind her of her purpose and dream and reinforced her determination to become a Knight no matter how tough the going was.She stared at the medallion long and hard and finally came to a conclusion.

With a heavy heart, she washed up and changed into a fresh set of uniform. As she met up with Tate and Takeda to go to the mess hall for breakfast, she made a mental note to keep her feelings in check. Letting her feelings run amok would only lead to the disclosure of her gender. The risks were too great and she could not afford to allow her dreams to be shattered by something as fickle as love. With newfound determination, she proceeded to face the tedious training for the day.

The morning was scheduled for staff training. All the pages were given a long wooden staff to practice on. Similar to sword training, they spent the better half of the morning doing basic movements. Instead of striking with a sword, they swung their staves. Since the staff was considerably lighter than the sword, the pages were able to handle the staves much better than the swords and managed to keep their stamina up throughout the first part of the training.

For the second part of their training, they were lined up neatly in two rows, facing each other. Tate was paired with Takeda while Natsuki was paired with a mousy looking page whom Natsuki did not bother to find out his name. One side was then ordered to attack in a sequence while the other side was to defend the attacks. Once the sequence was completed, they would then switch roles and continue.

"High blow!"

Natsuki braced herself for her partner's attack. The mousy looking page lifted his staff and struck down mercilessly for the top of her head. Swiftly placing both her hands shoulder width wide apart on her wooden staff, she then swung her staff upwards in a horizontal position, blocking his attack easily.

"Mid blow!"

The mousy looking page then shifted his stance and attempted to thrust the tip of his staff in the direction of Natsuki's stomach. Natsuki then responded by swinging her staff downwards and towards the side, deflecting the attack effectively.

"Low blow!"

Her partner stooped down and swung his staff in the direction of her legs. Since it was going for the knee region, Natsuki was unable to jump to avoid the sweep, so she swung her staff in the opposite direction, batting the attacking staff away even before it was even close to her legs.

"Switch!"

Now it was Natsuki's turn to attack. As she swung her staff down for the first blow, she saw her partner flinch from the attack. Not wanting to hurt him, she considerably reduced the strength and speed of her attack. Her partner barely managed to match the blow and her staff landed on his with a soft thud, the sound much softer compared to the loud thwacks of others.

"Kruger! Use some force in your blow! You never eat breakfast?" Sir Walde barked at her.

Natsuki wanted to protest but held her tongue. Sir Walde was right. If she held back her blows now, it would not benefit her partner at all in future when he was on the battlefield. Better be hurt now than to lose his life in future.

Steeling her heart, she gave it her all in the next blow. As expected, her partner flinched yet again and failed to deflect the blow, and almost bowled over in pain from the thrust in his gut. The pace of the attacks did not slow down for him though as Natsuki had to execute the next round of attack in tandem with the others. Luckily this time, her partner managed to block the attack in the nick of time. Giving him an encouraging smile, they switched roles again. From the sides of her eyes, Natsuki could see that Tate and Takeda were doing fairly well with their coordinated attacks and defense. The practice carried on all the way to lunch as usual. Just before they were dismissed, Sir Walde informed them that they would be having outfield training next week. All the pages were excited at the news. It would be their first time going for outfield and they couldn't wait to apply what they had learnt into practice.

In the afternoon, they had war strategy lesson. Remembering her resolve, Natsuki did not try to catch Shizuru's eye when she entered the classroom. She tried to avoid looking at Shizuru if possible.

Shizuru was puzzled by Natsuki's apparent aloofness towards her when she entered the classroom. She was hoping to give Natsuki her usual cheery smile and get her cute awkward one in return. Just the day before, hadn't she shouted her name accidentally while dreaming in class? What happened? Did I do something wrong? Shizuru could not help but question herself. She felt a twinge of sadness in her heart when she noticed that Natsuki was deliberately avoiding her gaze.

Natsuki was not faring any better than Shizuru. Guilt seeped through her as she tried to avoid Shizuru's gaze. She knew she was acting rather weirdly and unfriendly herself. While trying hard to fix her attention on what the Master was teaching, she accidentally caught sight of one of Shizuru's glimpse coming her way. The sad look in her eyes only served to increase her guilt. Stoically, she looked away from her glance and focused her attention fully on the Master.

Thankfully, war strategy lesson was something that Natsuki enjoyed thoroughly and held her attention with ease. She used to ravish through all the war books that her father and brother collected as her form of entertainment on top of fantasy books. She already had quite a deep knowledge of tactics and strategies used in war and although the Master was only teaching them the basics, she was still intrigued to hear what he was teaching.

When the Master asked them questions, she were able to answer all of them with ease and spiced them up with additional insights she had gleamed from the troves of war books she had studied, impressing the class with her in depth knowledge of the topic. Natsuki caught a few impressed glances from Shizuru and felt a mixture of pride and happiness swell in her heart, motivating her to answer more of the Master's questions as insightfully as she could manage. This resulted in a look of further admiration coming from Shizuru, much to the ire of her fan boys.

Remembering her decision earlier, she chanted to herself repeatedly, "I'm answering questions to the best of my ability to be a better knight." She tried to fool herself into thinking that it was not for Shizuru that she was so actively answering questions, but deep down, she knew that it was all for a need to impress Shizuru badly, to show that she was not just a klutz and pretty boy only.

By the time lessons ended, Natsuki was already on the Master's genius list for tactics and both Tate and Takeda looked at her in new light, awed by her vast knowledge and creative application. Shizuru kept shooting furtive glances at her, but Natsuki continued ignoring her. Natsuki knew that she was hurting Shizuru in a way, but she was also hurting herself too in the process. This is for your own good, Shizuru, Natsuki thought. She hoped that Shizuru might understand her in time. Nothing good would come out of it if Natsuki continued to lead her on. Dreams would be shattered and trust would be broken. It might even ruin their possible friendship. Natsuki scoffed at the last bit of her thought. Were they even friends in the first place? Or was she just an acquaintance in Shizuru's eyes?

"Hey Natsuki, have you noticed? Shizuru-sama looks kind of sad today," Tate said in an upset tone. It brought Natsuki out of her deep thoughts. She put on a nonchalant face and shrugged her shoulders.

"Beats me," She replied coolly, trying to hide her guilt.

"What's the matter with you too? One moment you are so smitten with her and the next you don't even care about her for a teeny bit?" Tate asked, confused and angry at his friend's fickle-mindedness. Natsuki chose to ignore his comment, feelings of guilt and pain continued gnawing at her heart. 'It's a bitter medicine but in the end, it will be better for us.' Natsuki chanted weakly in her mind. A bitter laugh escaped her when the thought that Shizuru being upset might not even be her doing.

Just before they left the classroom, Shizuru spoke aloud to no one in particular.

"Remember Sunday. I'll be waiting."

Although Shizuru was upset and puzzled with Natsuki's actions of ignoring her in class, she was not one to give up without a fight. She prayed that Natsuki had enough of an honor of a knight to turn up for their arranged meeting. With that, she left the classroom hastily, although not forgetting to throw a last glance back at Natsuki and her friends, masking her facial expressions and only allowing her eyes to convey her feelings of sadness.

Natsuki would never forget the look that Shizuru gave her when she departed. It was so full of misery and reproach that it made a lump appear at her throat and she felt like crying. A knight shed blood, not tears. This philosophy had been so ingrained in her that it had somehow blocked her tear ducts permanently. She could feel the wrench of her heart from the look given, but her tears would not come and relieve the burden of her heart. Clenching her fists, she hurried to her room for some time alone, leaving behind two very confused Tate and Takeda. Unlike Shizuru, Natsuki was not an expert in keeping her emotions off her face, and both Tate and Takeda saw the indescribable misery in it.

Sitting on her bed, she looked at her brother's medallion again. "I have chosen the path of knighthood, and I will walk it alone." She said to herself softly. Her brother had told her that knighthood was a lonely path, fraught with many dangers. A knight could only depend on himself and no one else during the darkest periods. Now, she had understood the true meaning of alone. This path she had chosen, was made at the cost of her love. She thought back about what Shizuru said before she departed. "I will honor the codes of knighthood and fulfill my promises," she whispered.

"I will turn up on Sunday."

* * *

Natsuki's state of melancholy was disrupted when she heard two soft knocks on her wooden door. She was really in no mood to entertain anyone in her current state. She contemplated on not answering the door. Let the person outside think that she's away, she thought.

"Natsuki, it's us. Tate and Takeda," Tate's voice could be heard from outside the door.

"Open up. We know you are in there."

Resigned, she got up from her bed and opened the door.

"What's the matter," she snapped, eyebrows twitching in annoyance. Her face was so dark and thunderous that anyone who seen it would have run away in fear. Tate and Takeda gulped audibly.

"We… we… saw that you didn't eat so we brought you some food," Takeda stuttered, his hands still holding onto a large plate of food.

"We had to pull some strings to get the food to your room," Tate smiled.

Natsuki's face softened at her friends' concern. She then bided her friends into her room. As Natsuki ate her meal, Tate and Takeda looked nervously at each other. After some time, Tate asked.

"We saw your face just now after Shizuru-sama left us. Are you alright?"

Although Natsuki did not want to be reminded of Shizuru at a time like this, she was nonetheless touched by her friends' concern for her. She nodded curtly. Tate released a nervous laugh.

"Say, why is it that your room is so cool?" Tate asked again, this time more at ease.

Natsuki shrugged. She did not notice any difference in room temperatures. Isn't everywhere the same?

"Since it's so cool and the weather is so hot, let's have a slumber party in your room! There's no classes tomorrow cos it's the weekends!" Takeda quipped, a little too energetically.

"We even brought our homework with us so we can do them together!" They then whipped out their quills and parchments and looked at Natsuki with hopeful eyes. Natsuki could tell that they knew she was having a rough time for some reason that they did not know, but they wanted to be there for her when she was feeling most alone and sad.

Not wanting to disappoint her friends, and to show her gratitude for their concern, she reluctantly agreed. It was a good choice though. Instead of stewing in her troubles alone by herself, the company of Tate and Takeda helped to lift her moods. Their boisterous presence helped to keep her mind at bay from depressing thoughts of Shizuru.

"Thank goodness we are doing homework with you! We can really pick on your brains!" Tate said happily. Natsuki just smiled and patiently taught them how to do their sums and such. She was amused and horrified at the same time that both of them could get almost all their questions on their homework wrong. Although it took her much longer than usual to finish her homework while guiding them, it was a strangely heartwarming experience and so much more fun. It made her glad that she had friends who stayed with her through fun and bad times.

Once they finished their homework, they started talking about random stuffs. She made a big discovery that day. All along, she had thought that the maids were the ultimate gossipmongers but she was proven wrong by the two pages in front of her. Tate and Takeda knew the juiciest gossips in the entire castle grounds and enjoyed trading and sharing the gossips that they had heard. Natsuki never knew that boys, especially pages, loved to gossip as much or even more than maids.

Their little gossip session kept Natsuki pleasantly intrigued with the funniest and most outrageous events in the castle. Natsuki never expected so many interesting things to happen in the boring castle grounds that they train in each day.

"Say, say, have you heard the rumor of Aoi?" Tate said excitedly.

"The maid that always follows Shizuru-sama?" Takeda asked.

Natsuki's ears perked up when she heard "Shizuru".

"I heard that she's taken. Someone heard her speaking to Shizuru-sama that she is exclusively seeing someone, last night. And there is this large hickey on the side of her neck," Tate informed.

"Aww. No wonder she never takes up any passes from the older pages. And she's so gorgeous too. She's definitely second to Shizuru-sama in terms of looks. Who's the lucky guy?" Takeda asked.

"Heard that it's the spymaster. Although no one actually knows the true identity of the spymaster of course." Tate grinned.

The topic of the conversation then changed to women. What else do you expect from two teenage boys with raging hormones? Natsuki was brought into a world she had never known. Tate and Takeda spoke about who are the beautiful maids in the castle, and compared notes on who they think had the biggest busts among the maids. They then discussed on what type of women they liked best.

"I'm a breasts man," Tate said smugly.

Takeda scratched his head and thought hard, before saying, "I prefer the face more."

They looked at Natsuki expectantly.

"Erm… I like everything?" Natsuki ventured, she was not really used to people asking her what type of WOMAN she liked and not what type of MAN, although no one ever asked the latter before either. She thought about Shizuru and was sure she liked everything about her. Not just her breasts or face. Her face burned a little at the last statement. 'I can't believe I checked out her breasts the first time I saw her!' She thought.

Both Tate and Takeda laughed at her. "Man, Natsuki, you like everything? You're such a hopeless romantic!"

Natsuki just rolled her eyes at their teasing.

"What are the ideal features of your dream girl?" Tate asked eagerly.

"Brown hair… cherry lips… nice chest… fair complexion… smooth skin… sexy figure… eyes that are red like the sunset…" Natsuki listed.

Her friends let out a loud guffaw of laughter.

"Fan boy alert! Fan boy alert!" Tate teased.

"Are you describing Shizuru-sama or is Shizuru-sama your dream girl?" Takeda added, laughter in his eyes.

Natsuki pinked when she realized the descriptions she had listed matched Shizuru perfectly. Damn! And I just told myself not to think about love and concentrate on being a knight! Natsuki thought angrily.

Tate's next question caught her unawares.

"Hey you got a really pretty face and every morning I see the palace maids making passes at you when we walk to breakfast! I bet you're not a virgin! Tell us honestly, how many maids have you tumbled?"

What? So that's what the maids were doing! And I thought they had something in their eyes the way they keep blinking at me!

Natsuki blushed furiously.

"I….I…I haven't had any women before…" Natsuki thought that it would be better for her to speak the truth instead of lying in case he wanted amorous details.

Tate and Takeda were both staring at her. Tate was looking a bit pale though, while Takeda looked eager.

"You mean… you had men before?" Tate inquired.

Natsuki's eyes grew wide at his response.

"Nooooo! That's not what I meant… I mean I'm still a virgin…"

Tate heaved out a sigh of relief. He then crossed his arms across his chest and cocked his head to the side smugly.

"This means that I'm the only non-virgin here!" He said in a cocky tone.

"What the hell Tate! You never even asked me and you assumed I'm a virgin too?" Takeda asked, a little angry.

"Dude! You can't even talk to a woman properly! Who will believe you have ever been laid? Besides, you don't look particularly attractive in any way." Tate replied.

Takeda let out a soft growl at his tease, but could not refute him.

Tate then assumed a self-important tone and shared his experience with them. The details made Natsuki's face flare red all the way to the tips of her ears. What made it worse was that while listening, her attention would sometimes drift away and end up conjuring images of she and Shizuru in provocative positions, and she had to give herself multiple mental slaps to keep her thoughts squeaky clean. 'Don't think about Shizuru. Don't think about Shizuru…" She chanted in her mind over and over again.

It was already well past midnight when the trio started to show signs of sleepiness. Yawning, Takeda asked Natsuki a final question.

"Hey, how come I seldom see you at the urine stalls?"

Natsuki was about to think up an excuse when Tate thankfully interrupted and prevented her from giving lame reasons like preferring her own clean toilet.

"Oh my God! Takeda! You want to see his peepee so badly? Are you gay?"

"Speak for yourself Tate! You are always the one comparing our sizes!"

Takeda's face flushed red in embarrassment as he fake punched Tate in the stomach. All three of them broke into laughter and the topic was long forgotten, leaving the trio gasping on the floor for breath from all the laughing involved. Slowly, one by one, they fell into slumber on the floor, as the bed was not large enough for all three of them.

"Natsuki, hang out with us tomorrow..." without hearing her reply, Takeda fell asleep.

Natsuki grunted in agreement, before slipping into a deep sleep. In her semi-conscious state just before she fell asleep, Natsuki briefly pondered whether she wanted Shizuru to visit her dreams that night. She wanted to see her badly, but seeing her in her dreams would also bring her pain, because the path she had chosen would not allow her to fall in love with Shizuru.

**End of Chapter Five**

* * *

Was anyone surprised to see Ducati in the form of a live animal in this fic? :X I sure surprised myself because it was not originally intended. The parallels between the horse and the Ducati suddenly hit me and i just had to write it out lol. Also, this chapter was supposed to be light but somehow it got angsty along the way, so i threw in the last part to make the whole thing lighter hehe.

Special thanks to Unseen for suggesting making Natsuki good at something, Chokolate for the outfield idea, KrazyJJ for suggestions on character development, Linnara on the denial of feelings, kikyo4ever for reminding me of Natsuki's dream of becoming a great knight and many others for their kind words of encouragement and interesting ideas. You might be pleasantly surprised to find some of your ideas popping out in future chapters :)

So what do you guys think of this chapter? Was it too 'dreamy'? Reviews will be greatly appreciated and criticisms welcomed! :D

Stay tuned!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

**A/N:** Yo! Thanks for staying with me all this while! I am so sorry for the delay yet again. I have a sad news to break, this chapter will only focus on saturday, so for those who are hoping to see sunday on this chapter, i give my deepest apologies. The reason I didnt include sunday is that i feel the moods for both days dont really fit, so i decided to break them up. And im not really good with writing emotion stuffs, so i was hoping for more time to write on the shiznat interactions on sunday :X Hope you all can understand. Hopefully, this latest instalment will not be too uninteresting :) Enjoy!

**Warning: **This chapter contains some gore (starts humming 'Happy Tree Friends' song)

**Oops more notes:**

_Italics denotes Natsuki's thoughts_

* * *

Saturday

"AHHHHHHHHHH! Get away from me Takeda!"

Natsuki was awoken in the morning by a loud scream coming from inside her room. _What the hell?_ Natsuki rubbed her eyes groggily. Her vision slowly revealed two figures in front of her. At first she was shocked, but quickly remembered about the slumber party last night. Tate was at the far side of her room, red faced and furious with his back against the wall, trying to get as far away from Takeda as possible, while Takeda was at the opposite end of the room, looking all flustered and apologetic.

"Why the hell did you put your hands inside my breeches? And doing THAT!" Tate screamed, his face a mixture of fear and anger.

"I…I…" Takeda stuttered, face flushing a deep red now, "didn't mean to… the room was so cold last night and I had a dream… I thought I was skiing…" Both his hands looked to be covered in something wet and sticky.

It took only a few seconds for the whole incident to sink in Natsuki's brain. The whole thing was so funny that Natsuki burst out in laughter, but was quickly silenced when both of them glared at her.

_Holy cow! Thank goodness Takeda was not sleeping between us or I would have been groped too! _A tiny trickle of cold sweat dripped from her temples at the thought that she was almost molested if she had slept beside Takeda on the floor. _I have to think twice about slumber parties now…_

"I rather you tell me the truth that you are gay than to come up with such a lame excuse…" Tate said.

"Noooo! I'm not gay! It's really an accident!" Takeda protested, his face turning a deeper shade of scarlet.

Tate rolled his eyes. "That's what they call in denial."

Takeda was so red in his face that Natsuki feared a vein might pop in his head. Tate then shrugged and headed for the bathroom.

"I'm going to use the bathroom now, you better don't come in!" Tate warned from the bathroom.

"But I need to wash my hands!" Takeda said, holding up both his hands to prove his point.

"Use your own bathroom!" came Tate's reply.

Takeda sighed in frustration. Sticking both his hands under his tunic so no one could see them, he made his way out of Natsuki's room. Just before he left, Natsuki gave him a sympathetic pat on his back. _Talk about humiliating dreams…_

When they got down to breakfast, it was already quite late and there were hardly any pages left in the mess hall. Natsuki figured that many of them had gone out to town to enjoy themselves at the earliest moment possible. Being cooped up for a whole week in the castle grounds had that effect on people to want to breathe a whiff of the outside air, no matter how putrid it was.

All through breakfast, Takeda took jabs from Tate about his "sexuality". No matter how much he denied it, Tate continued his teasing given every opportunity. So much so that Takeda resorted to looking at Natsuki with big round watery puppy eyes for help. Unable to resist his pitiful silent plea, she nodded her head in consent.

"Come on, Tate. Let's give the old boy a break! I'm sure it's an accident that can happen to anyone!" Natsuki briefly wondered about the 'anyone' part. It seemed that Takeda had a knack of getting into unbelievable mess.

Tate snorted in laughter.

"Yeah right, anyone could have dreamt of skiing and molesting his friends," Tate countered. He was about to continue his teasing but stop himself short.

"Hey, don't cry on me now. I was just teasing. I'll stop okay, so please don't cry."

It was Tate's turn to be flustered. Takeda was so frustrated by the teasing that he was pushed towards the brink of tears. He sniffed loudly, trying to suck back all the unshed tears that had welled up in his eyes, and broke into a small smile when Tate reassured that he would stop his teasing. Natsuki heaved a sigh of relief. She had never seen a guy cry before and she was not sure whether she wanted to see it, it might freak her out. There was an awkward moment of silence as the two friends watched Takeda take control of his emotions.

Hoping to steer the topic to something lighter, Natsuki ventured.

"Hey, who said something about hanging out together? Come on, let's hit the town. I haven't had a chance to explore it yet."

Natsuki gave them a bright smile and ushered both of them out of the castle grounds and onto the bustling streets of the city. The morning incident was put behind them.

"Hey anyone needs to go to the bank to withdraw some money?" Tate asked.

Both Natsuki and Takeda nodded. Since all the pages' training, board and meals had been paid in full, they hardly needed any money inside the castle grounds. Most of them would just withdraw money from the local bank when they got out of the castle on rest days and deposit them back into the bank when the day ended. It was definitely not wise to bring money back into the castle and leave them in their rooms since they would hardly be in their quarters and tempt the maids into stealing.

Natsuki had never been to a bank before. Heck, she was hardly allowed out of her estate back home. Therefore, when they reached the local bank, she was surprised to find weird looking men guarding the front of the massive white building. They were wearing silver helmets and armors and carrying spears in their hands as they stood guard outside the entrance. The unusual thing was that these men were rather short, almost as tall as the trio and that was not tall, considering that they were only twelve years old. They also had green skin, warty faces and long hooked noses that gave them a menacing and cunning look.

Natsuki wondered whether these men were covered in green war paints. Tate caught her surprised look and whispered in her ear.

"They are goblins." He laughed as he watched Natsuki's eyes grew round as saucers in disbelief.

Natsuki had heard of goblins and their legendary ability with numbers and money. However, the species was close to extinction, like many other minority races, such as dwarves, gypsies, and even giants. Due to their dwindling numbers and Man's constant hostility towards those not of their kind, it was rare for anyone to have a glimpse of other species.

"Viola Kingdom adopts an open door policy towards these creatures, as long as they come in peace. Besides, they are really good with keeping money and treasures safe." Tate informed.

They then entered the lobby of the bank. Inside, a row of goblins was seated behind a counter. Unlike those outside, they wore normal tunics and breeches and instead of spears, they carried abacuses. Abacus was an object that had a long rectangular wooden frame with many beads skewered onto wooden rods attached to the frame. The goblins were busy flicking their fingers back and forth the abacus beads as customers stated their requests. The queue was unexpectedly short and it was soon Natsuki's turn at the front of the counter.

"Family name?" the goblin asked dryly.

"Kruger."

"Family crest?"

Natsuki took out her wolf shaped family crest and showed it to the goblin serving her.

"Put out your right hand."

Natsuki did as told and the goblin held her hand with its green wrinkly ones. The goblin closed its eyes and Natsuki suddenly felt a sense of warmth wash over her hand. The goblin then continued his questions.

"State your request."

Natsuki wondered how much she should withdraw from her account. Money was based on a system of copper coins, silver and gold pieces. Ten copper coins were equivalent to one silver piece while ten silver pieces was equivalent to one gold piece. A normal meal would cost roughly around five copper coins and she had a weekly allowance of ten gold pieces.

"I wish to withdraw ten gold pieces from my personal account."

"Personal name?"

"Natsuki."

"As you wish."

The goblin flicked the beads of his abacus and then opened a drawer beneath him. Carefully counting out ten gold pieces, he then placed them on the counter and gestured for Natsuki to take the money. Natsuki quickly swept them into her open money pouch and went to join Tate and Takeda already waiting for her at the exit.

A question had been nagging at the back of her mind all this while and she could not resist but blurt it out the moment they got out of the bank.

"Wow, isn't it a little too easy to withdraw money with just a crest? What if it gets stolen?" Natsuki asked, suddenly feeling worried that her money was kept in such an unsafe way in the bank.

Tate smirked and replied, "The crest is the first failsafe. The real test is when they hold your hand in theirs. It's a little goblin magic that acts like a lie detector in a way. So if you had requested to withdraw money from an account that does not belong to you, the goblin will know."

"Also, it's really hard to rob a goblin guarded bank. See the two guards over there?" Tate pointed to the goblin guards outside the bank. Natsuki nodded in answer, although she was highly skeptical that the small guards would be effective against armed robberies.

"Even if the ignorant robbers managed to get past them, the drawers of gold at the counter can only be opened by goblin magic. Even if you threaten the tellers at knifepoint, they will rather choose death over humiliation. But just the task of getting past these guards is highly unlikely, because despite their size they pack quite a lethal punch." Tate continued.

Natsuki marveled at the ingenuity of the whole anti-theft system. Her previous doubts about goblin banks were quickly quashed.

Tate added in a proud tone, "Just in case you don't know, because of Viola Kingdom's open door policy, we are the only kingdom that operates goblin manned banks." Natsuki's heart swelled in pride too when she heard this statement, proud to be a citizen of a kingdom that did not discriminate against minority species.

"Now let's head towards the first stop in town!" Tate exclaimed. Both Tate and Takeda were bubbling with eagerness and Natsuki thought she could see tiny stars in Tate's eyes. _I hope it's not girls they are so eager to see…_

They half-dragged a wary Natsuki through the milling crowd in the streets. After some time, they stopped in front of a large shop with a signboard saying "Raven Armory". In contrast to other shops, there were only a few brave souls inside while on the outside, a large crowd, mostly boys and men, were staring longingly at the items behind the display glass. Elbowing their way through the crowd, they finally managed to step inside the shop.

Natsuki was greeted by the sight of rows and rows of weapons and armors all around the shop. On one side was archery equipment with all kinds of bows available – long bows, normal bows, short bows, composite bows, cross bows etc. All the bows were exquisitely carved from the best wood available and bore numerous intricate patterns.

On another side of the shop, armors of various types and riding accessories were arranged neatly. There were chain mails, breast plates, round helmets, helmets with visors, steel leggings, steel boots, horse saddles and the likes. Each one of them looked like they were made for royalties and the price was not what common soldiers or young knights could afford either. Even a small piece of cloth, the cheapest item in the store, with the "Raven Armory" name on it to rub away the rust on swords cost a single gold piece.

The items that caught her attention most were the swords hung on the center wall. The craftsmanship for each sword was superb and each blade edge was of uniform thickness and the edge was lethally smooth. Not a chink or any unevenness could be seen on any sword blades. The cross guards and grips were extravagantly decorated with intricate designs for both aesthetic and practical reasons. Even the pommel was lavishly decorated with a gem of various cuts and colors.

"All our swords are Dwarven made. The Dwarves are known for their fine workmanship on all weapons," said one of the sales staff, beaming in pride. He then took one of the swords off the wall and held it horizontally, edge facing up. Next, he plucked a strand of his hair and let it fall onto the edge. In the blink of an eye, the hair was sliced into half as it touched the edge of the blade.

The trio whistled at the sharpness of the blade. Natsuki took a closer look at the price tag and was sorely tempted to leave the store. Each and every one of the swords cost a mini fortune, with the cheapest going at five hundred gold pieces. Much as she wanted to possess one of the finest blades in the kingdom, she was not prepared to spend her entire savings on one sword alone. _Besides, it's the man that brings out the best of his tools right? _She decided that she might come back for the sword once she had earned enough gold from future campaigns.

Tate and Takeda continued admiring the swords at close distance, occasionally touching the flat side of the blade, leaving their fingerprints on the reflective metal surface, much to the annoyance of the sales staff. Once or twice, Natsuki could see the sales staff twitch their eyebrows when they saw Tate and Takeda's breath fog on the shiny surface of the swords when they got too close to them. Before the sales staff started chasing them out of the store with a broom, Natsuki dragged her friends out by the scruff of their necks to avoid causing a scene.

Their next stop was the local apothecary. It was the first time Natsuki visited the potions shop. She could not contain her excitement as she saw vials and vials of different colored substances on a shelf behind the storeowner. Thinking that the Kruger fiefdom was so backwater that it did not have an apothecary, Tate pointed out the functions of different colored vials.

"All the effects of the potions last for about an hour. The red one doubles the strength of the user, the green one is an antidote for most poisons, the yellow one increases speed, the white one heals minor wounds and the blue one is perfect for you."

Both Tate and Takeda burst out in laughter at the tease and laughed even harder when Natsuki did not appear to catch on. Although she could not catch the joke, she was not so dense that she did not know they were making fun of her. She furrowed her eyebrows and threw both of them an icy glare. They stopped laughing immediately and Takeda explained.

"The blue one increases accuracy."

She finally caught on and stared daggers at her friends, who were trying in vain to stop themselves from getting into fits of laughter.

Besides the normal potions, the apothecary also sold essential raw ingredients for mages to concoct their own unique potions. It mainly served the mages attending the Royal Mage Academy. Most of the ingredients were various dried herbs and insects, with a few unusual ingredients like dried dead cockroaches, rat-tails, turtle shells, rabbit eyes, and even dried blood from animals. Natsuki's stomach churned a little when she saw the many rabbit eyes looking back blankly at her.

"How come we aren't allowed to take potions while training?" Natsuki asked.

"Well, it defeats the purpose of training. Besides, too much of these stuff can kill you if you are not careful in taking them. They aren't really made from healthy stuffs you know," Tate replied, waving his hands at the raw ingredients. Natsuki gulped at little at his statement. They then headed out of the apothecary for further explorations.

Most of the shops on the streets were selling uninteresting items like clothes and groceries. There were a couple of blacksmiths selling metal works like kitchen utensils, daggers, common swords and iron horseshoes. There was also a public infirmary where conventional doctors, nurses and healers took care of sick patients.

As they walked along the streets, Natsuki was embarrassed by Tate and Takeda's obvious ogling each time a good looking woman walked past them. A cute puppy licking the inside of a display glass caught their attention and they entered the shop. Although the pet shop was fairly large, there was a huge crowd inside and they had to elbow their way through the shop to look at the different animals on display. In one section were the usual domesticated animals like puppies, kittens, rabbits and birds while in another section, there were more exotic pets like reptiles such as snakes and iguanas.

Further into the shop was a corner that said, "Artificially enhanced breeds". The animals there were the usual domesticated ones with a slight twist. There were glow-in-the dark rabbits, rainbow ferrets and hairless rodents to name a few.

Tate explained that these animals had been treated with magic by the mages from the Royal Magical Research Facility to be sold as unusual pets. However, he advised against buying them because they usually had much shorter life spans than normal breeds and might develop complications due to the magic artificially forced upon them. Somehow, Natsuki felt sorry for the animals in this section, to have their lifespan shortened and their outward appearance altered against nature by humans according to their whims and fancies.

Unable to look at those pitiful creatures further, they got out of the pet shop and continued walking further into the outskirts of the town. By then, the crowds had grown thinner and the shops looked progressively more rundown than the last. Seeing that there was nothing more to explore as most of the shops further down were boarded up for sale, they decided to head back to the heart of the town.

Just as they walked past a dark alleyway, a cry caught Natsuki's attention. Peering into the alleyway, they saw a scrawny looking boy with dark brown hair and violet eyes being cornered by three other boys who looked to be local hoodlums. They were sneering maliciously at the smaller sized boy and were holding their hands out, seeming to be extorting money from him. This time, Natsuki did not hesitate to stand up to them. She turned her head to look at Tate and Takeda, silently requesting them for backup. Both of them nodded once in reply and they walked towards the group in the alleyway.

"Stop what you are doing, and you will not be hurt," Natsuki offered. She hoped to settle the situation peacefully. If a fight were to break out, her group would definitely have the upper hand against the hoodlums since they were trained for combat. She did not want things to turn out like they were bullying them instead.

The bullies eyed them suspiciously, weighing their odds. They might not easily win a three-on-three fight. Like all bullies who preyed on the weak and run from the strong, they took up the offer.

"We are just straightening his collar," the leader of the group said, dusting the front of the scrawny boy's tunic roughly with his hands to demonstrate his point. The scrawny boy winced from the rough treatment. They then walked out of the alleyway cockily, purposely bumping into Natsuki's shoulders along the way.

Once the bullies had left, the trio went to check on the innocent victim. Thankfully they had arrived in time, and the victim only suffered minor bruises.

"Be more careful next time, you don't get people saving your ass each time," Tate said.

"Thanks a lot for helping me. I usually don't cut through this seedy part of town but I was in a hurry and took a short cut from here," said the scrawny boy, giving a sheepish grin.

"Is there any way I can repay you all for the help?" The boy asked in an eager tone.

Natsuki was about to turn down his offer when her stomach let out an embarrassing rumble. It was already late noon and they had not eaten their lunch yet.

"My family owns a restaurant nearby. I can give you all a treat!" The boy said happily. No matter how much they refused, the boy insisted on treating them and practically dragged Natsuki with him. Tate and Takeda followed close behind.

They finally reached a restaurant a few streets away. It was a ramen restaurant and the place was packed full with people.

"We can't afford the high rent near the heart of the town so we opened it here. My family lives on the second floor. Usually it is not so crowded, happens only on weekends when my sister comes back from her mage training," explained the boy as he led the trio into the restaurant.

"She cooks the best ramen in town!" He added, face beaming with pride.

As they entered the restaurant, a busty young woman with flaming orange hair ran towards them.

"Takumi! I was worried when you took such a long time to come back! Did anything bad happen? Are you alright?" She asked in a motherly tone, giving him a hug and almost smothering him in her huge chest. Tate's eyes remained fixated on her chest all this while.

"Mmmph, I'm fine sis, stop suffocating me," Takumi protested as he extricated himself from her hug, his face glowing a bright pink. He then gestured towards the trio behind him.

"I got into some trouble with some scum and the kind gentleman over there," he pointed towards Natsuki, "and his friends behind helped save me."

The orange haired lady gave them a grateful smile. She then introduced herself.

"I'm Mai Tokiha, and he is my brother Takumi," She said, pointing to the boy they had saved.

"Natsuki Kruger," Natsuki replied, returning a charming smile of her own. Mai blushed a little.

"Tate Yuichi," Tate said, all the while still staring at her boobs. Natsuki wondered if he was talking to Mai or talking to her boobs. Mai looked slightly offended. Embarrassed by his rude staring, Natsuki elbowed Tate in his side, earning a chuckle from Mai who saw their interactions.

"Ta… Takeda… Masashi," stuttered Takeda, his speech problem with girls recurring.

"Please be seated so I can show our gratitude for saving our Takumi. Three extra big servings of Mai's special ramen coming up shortly," Mai insisted.

While waiting for their food, they debated on the things to do for the rest of the afternoon.

"Let's go to the games!" Takeda suggested.

"Games? What kind of games? Carnival games?" Natsuki asked. She had never been to any games before and it would be an eye opening experience for her.

"No way! Carnival games are for kids! We are going to see some adult games!" Takeda replied.

"Adult? But we aren't even adults yet," Natsuki pointed out. Fifteen was the legal age of adulthood in the kingdom.

"Technically, we aren't. But being a page has its privileges and one of it is going to the games!" Takeda said smugly.

Natsuki was slightly worried that Takeda was going to bring them to some indecent whorehouse. _Well, he did mention adult games…_Natsuki tried racking her brains for excuses to get out of the sticky situation. There was no way in hell she was going to a whorehouse. How could she explain to the others if she could not 'perform'?

Natsuki was so deep in thought that she did not notice Mai behind her, bending forwards to place their ramen on the table. Sensing something at her side, she turned her head and her face had a front row seat to Mai's ample chest, burying itself deeply inside her cleavage. Natsuki pinked at the soft contact and quickly backed away, falling off her chair in the process.

Mai blushed darkly and looked away. Takeda banged his fists on the table, laughing so hard that there were tears at the corners of his eyes, while Tate looked at Natsuki in envy. Face red as a tomato, Natsuki apologized profusely to Mai, who quickly excused herself to go back to the kitchens.

All through lunch, Natsuki had to suffer a two-pronged teasing attack by Tate and Takeda. Unfortunately, the topic on going to the games was not dropped. After they had finished their ramen, Natsuki insisted on paying for their meals. Leaving a gold piece on the table, they hurriedly left the restaurant to go to the games that Takeda mentioned. Natsuki gave up on protesting. She figured that no matter what 'adult games' they were going to, she would just have to play it by the ear.

She was brought to a very large round building where there was already a very long queue of people at the entrance. They got into the queue and waited for their turn to get in. Natsuki heaved a silent sigh of relief. The building did not seem to look at all like a whorehouse. One by the one, the people in the queue filed in and before long, it was their turn at the ticket counter just before the entrance. The counter staff took a look at the three of them and asked.

"Pages?"

The trio nodded and they showed him their respective family crests.

"That will be fifteen gold pieces for three tickets."

After making the payments, they were given three tickets and three paper bags. Both Tate and Takeda could not hide their excitement as they practically bounded through the entrance. Natsuki was feeling hopeful that there might be carnival games inside such a large place after all.

Once inside, she realized that it was a stadium. There was a large sandy clearing in the middle and there were seats on multiple levels on the stands around the clearing. The seats were pretty much filled and they had a hard time looking for a spot for the three of them to sit together. Finally, they settled down on seats second row from the front.

"Is this your first time to the games?" Tate asked Natsuki.

Natsuki nodded.

"Hmm, then I guess you better have more paper bags." Both Tate and Takeda gave their paper bags to her, much to Natsuki's puzzlement.

"Anyone wants to place a bet?" Takeda asked, already fishing out the gold pieces in his money pouch. He then pointed to two counters at the topmost level of the seats.

"The left one is to place bets while the right one is to collect your winnings." Takeda explained.

"What kind of games is this? Betting and paper bags?" Natsuki asked, completely clueless on what they had to do.

Tate gave her a playful smile.

"Watch and you will find out later." With that, both Tate and Takeda went to place their bets, leaving a very confused Natsuki behind.

Shortly after, a constant rolling of drumbeats filled the air. A hush washed over the crowd as the beats grew progressively louder.

"It's starting," Tate whispered.

When the drumming finally stopped, two figures walked from opposite ends of the stadium to meet in the center of the clearing. They were half naked, wearing only breeches and no shoes. On one hand, they each carried a long sword with chipped edges and a wooden shield on the other. Their faces were grimly set and were snarling at each other. The crowds cheered as the two figures took up their fighting stance.

Suddenly, a voice boomed over the stadium. Natsuki figured that it was magically enhanced.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I am Utt, your commentator for the match today. Without further ado, I shall briefly inform you all of each contestant's background.

On the left hand side, the fellow with blond hair, he is a serial killer who preys on women and children. The last count before he was captured, he had killed ten women and twenty children. If you have placed bets on him winning, I think the odds are rather slim since he only preyed on those weaker than him.

On the right hand side, the fellow with brown hair, he used to be part of the notorious Wildhorse bandit gang that plagued the western side of our kingdom, engaging in activities like looting, killing and razing villages into ashes. The gang has since been disbanded ever since our famous Sir Walde captured almost half of the gang with his legion of knights and soldiers. I'm betting my money on this one.

Today's match will be a battle to death. Who will be the last man standing? Who will be able to survive and get a chance of redemption by serving in our Great Army? Now let the games begin!"

The crowd cheered wildly as another round of drum rolls ensued. When the beating stopped, both of them let out a loud battle cry and charged at each other.

"Ooh look at those menacing faces! I will hate to be in any one of their shoes right now."

The brunette raised his sword and swung at his opponent. The blond blocked the attack with his sword, and pushed his opponent's sword away with all his strength. The two swords were now in deadlock as their cross guards got hooked onto each other's.

"They seem to be in a deadlock now. Whoever has more strength will have the advantage. Blondie looks to be trying to push his opponent's blade into his face."

The blonde gritted his teeth as he forced all his weight onto his sword, hoping to smash his opponent's sword backwards into his face. The brunette, seeing what he was doing, tried to do the same to move the swords in his opponent's direction. Both of them were only inches apart, breathing down on each other's necks when the brunette suddenly swung his shield arm and smashed the wooden shield at the side of the blonde's skull.

"Ouch! That must have hurt!"

The impact caused the blonde to stagger unsteadily. Taking advantage of his momentary vulnerable state, the brunette swung his shield arm again upwards, making an uppercut, connecting the shield with his opponent's jaw. The blonde was flung backwards from the hit and landed with his back flat on the ground.

"Oh no! He's on the ground! Is this the end of him?"

Seeing his chance, the brunette shifted his grip on his sword and came down onto the blonde in a stabbing motion for his finishing move. Unfortunately, the blonde managed to recover himself in time and rolled towards his side, and half the brunette's sword sunk into the soft sandy ground below.

"Whoa that's a close shave! It seems the tide has turned!" The crowd continued cheering wildly.

It was a golden opportunity for the blonde as his opponent tried in vain to dislodge his sword from the ground. The blonde ran towards his opponent with his sword pointing forward in a thrusting motion.

"Will the brown head be able to dodge the attack?"

The brunette was still half kneeling on the ground, trying to pull out his sword. Seeing the oncoming attack, he raised his shield in defense, bracing himself for the impact. The sword struck the wooden shield with a loud thud. Instead of attacking other parts of his body, the blonde pushed further into the attack. There was a sickening crack and the sword broke through the wooden shield, going straight for his chest.

"Oh my goodness!" The crowd gasped in surprise.

In the nick of time, the brunette diverted the attack by pushing his shield sideways and narrowly dodging his attack. Scrambling to his feet, he used both hands to tug at his half buried sword while the momentum of the attack carried the blonde away from the brunette.

Spinning around to face his opponent, the blonde swung his sword to the side, and the broken shield slid off his sword. By then, the brunette had managed to retrieve his sword successfully and was holding it with both his hands.

They faced each other and parried attacks in an unskilled fashion. The brunette lunged at the blonde with his sword, thrusting in the direction of his stomach. In response, the blond lowered his shield to cover his abdomen.

"He's blocking! No wait... It's a feint!"

The moment the blonde's shield was lowered, the brunette spun a full circle while thrusting and raised his sword, making a strike for his head. The blonde was too shocked by the surprise attack that he stood there dumbfounded, watching as the blade arced down towards the top of his head.

There was a sickeningly loud crack. The sword stopped for a second when it connected with the blonde's skull before moving its way down to cut him in half from top down. As the sword was blunt at some parts of the blade, the motion down was not smooth and the blade occasionally got caught on tissues and bones. The brunette had to tug the sword forcefully each time it encountered obstacles along the way, resulting in a not so straight line of movement from the head all the way down to the groin. With a last tug, the brunette freed his sword from pelvic bone of his opponent's corpse.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, drenching the brunette and dyeing the ground red as the blonde's body split into two halves. Brains, raw flesh, bones, even intestines could be seen splattered on the ground. As the large intestines had been sliced open, feaces mixed with blood flowed out of broken intestine, befouling the air with a pungent smell of shit and metallic stench of blood. The cut on the blonde's face was not exactly in the middle and was slanted to one side, the pressure causing one of the eyes to pop out of the skull. The eye was much larger than what it appeared to be. The eyeball was as big as a fist and rolled in the bloody mess like a white ball, it's pupil dilated.

"Yes! We have a winner!"

The brunette smirked and wiped the blood off his sword using his opponent's breeches, which only added to the gruesome image and not much practical use since the blonde's breeches was just as soaked in blood as the sword. The crowd whistled and cheered when the winner was announced. The volume of cheering was significantly lowered since many spectators could not stomach the carnage and were vomiting into the paper bags provided.

Natsuki could feel her stomach churning. The air was heavy with the smell of blood and she thought her stomach might revolt anytime. It did not help when some people around her were puking non-stop and the acrid smell of vomit was permeating through the air. Both Tate and Takeda were looking at her and the paper bag expectantly, grinning to see when she would throw up. Not wanting to give her friends the satisfaction, she swallowed a large gulp of saliva and quickly got out of the stands. She waited outside the building as Tate and Takeda went to collect their winnings.

It was already early evening by the time they got their winnings. The carnage she had seen earlier had ruined her appetite completely but Tate insisted on going to the local water hole for a drink.

"But we aren't allowed to drink alcohols yet!" Natsuki protested.

"My friend, you have a lot to learn. Come on, don't be a spoilsport," Tate winked.

"Money makes the mare go round," Takeda added, jingling his now full money pouch.

She was then frog marched to the more desolate and seedier parts of the town where a little gold could go a long way. They entered a dingy looking bar a few streets away from Mai's restaurant.

There were only a few people inside the pub. Most of them looked to be old peasants rewarding themselves with some beer after a long day of work. At one corner, they saw the hoodlums they had frightened away earlier in the morning. Ignoring them, they settled themselves at the counter, placed a couple of gold pieces on the table and ordered beers for themselves. Taking the money quickly, the bartender served them their orders with no questions asked.

It was Natsuki's first time drinking beer. She took a cautious sip. Its bitter taste did not really go down well for her. Tate and Takeda seemed to enjoy theirs thoroughly though. She tried masking the bitter taste with the nachos provided as she sipped the beer slowly while washing it down with nachos. The alcohol slowly kicked into her system and she could feel her body heating up and her heart beating a little faster. Her head was starting to feel woozy too.

The effects had kicked in for Tate and Takeda as they started talking really loudly and kept laughing over nothing. Their inhibitions were lowered and they started discussing about girls. Tate kept babbling about how much he wanted to touch Mai's boobs. It only served to make Natsuki blush even harder despite her flushed face when she remembered her little incident at the restaurant. They continued gossiping for a bit until Natsuki had an uncomfortable feeling of someone spying on them. She turned around and saw the hoodlums staring at them. She got her friends' attention and a staring game ensued.

Annoyed at being stared at, the Dutch courage effect of alcohol got a little into Tate's head and he flipped them a rude gesture. The hoodlums promptly stood up and went out the bar.

"Chickens!" Tate hollered after them, flapping his arms. The three of them burst out laughing. It was nightfall by the time they got out of the bar. The three of them were walking side by side, one hand on each other's shoulders, staggering back and forth like three drunkards. Tate was so drunk he started singing a little song with his off tune voice.

"I need a girl to ride, ride, ride…"

"Oh man, Tate, I should be the one singing that," Takeda pouted.

They walked a few steps and Takeda suddenly ran towards the nearest wall and started throwing up. Shaking her head at her friends, Natsuki suddenly saw that the streets got darker.

Looking ahead, she saw three figures standing in front of them, each carrying a stick. Suddenly, a voice called out from their back.

"Flip the bird didn't you? Let's see how tough you guys are," the voice from behind snickered.

Natsuki spun around. Behind them were the three hoodlums they had chased away earlier. They were also carrying long wooden sticks in their hands.

_Dang! We are cornered! _She thought as the three hoodlums cut off their escape route from the back while their friends were blocking in front. Tate and Takeda were still fuzzy from the drinks. Natsuki was slightly better off as she drank much less than them.

"Six on three…" Natsuki whispered to Tate and Takeda, "Can we handle them in this state?"

Tate and Takeda nodded hesitantly.

"No choice. Time to apply our training," Tate replied, a half smirk formed on his face.

Without warning, the street scums charged at them like mad men, waving the sticks in their hands. Two of them charged for Natsuki. She dodged their weak swings easily and hurled a punch on the sides of the faces each, flinging them against the walls from the impact. Both of them fell on their butts, backs slumped against the wall. Not wasting any precious time, she kicked both of them solidly in the guts and stomped on their fingers, making them drop their sticks. Grabbing the sticks next, she knocked them out swiftly by striking their heads with the sticks.

A cry from Tate made her turn around. He had taken down one guy but in his drunken state, neglected the other that was also coming for him. The hoodlum was repeatedly beating down on his back with his stick. Like a javelin thrower, Natsuki threw the spare stick she had on hand at Tate's attacker. It sailed through the air and hit his attacker squarely in the eye, eliciting a loud yowl of pain from his attacker. Tate took the opportunity and did a high kick, the tip of his boots connecting solidly with his attacker's chin. His attacker crumpled to the ground as his actions were temporarily paralyzed from the blow to his jaw. Tate then grabbed the stick from his attacker and knocked him out, before flashing Natsuki a grateful smile.

They then turned their attention to Takeda. He was holding up pretty well and finished off both his attackers by grabbing them by their hairs and banging their heads together. Patting his hands, he turned his back on them and walked towards his friends.

Natsuki gave him a smile for his efforts but it quickly grew into fear when one of Takeda's attackers got up from the ground and was thrusting a small dagger in the direction of Takeda's back. With not enough time to warn him, Natsuki dashed towards Takeda and pushed him out of harm's way. Takeda managed to escape unscathed.

However, Natsuki's forearm got in the way of the dagger's line of motion while pushing Takeda. The dagger was thrust deeply into Natsuki's forearm, stopping when it hit the ulna, and got lodged between the bones and flesh. Pain seared through her forearm and Natsuki howled out in pain.

The assailant, seeing that his attempt was foiled, quickly removed his hands from the dagger and ran off towards the dark alleys. Tate gave chase and caught him when the attacker stumbled over the unconscious bodies of his comrades. Blinded by rage, Tate punched the attacker's face nonstop until it grew to resemble a pig's head. He then broke as many bones as he could of the attacker's hands, giving out sickening cracks every few seconds and the attacker's pitiful howl of pain rang through the night.

"If I ever see you or any of your sissy friends' sorry ass again, I'll make sure to skin you alive!" Tate threatened.

Behind him, Takeda pulled out the dagger from Natsuki's forearm. Blood sprayed out like water from a fire hose immediately. He then applied pressure on the wound, while checking the dagger for signs of poison. All the while, Natsuki was bleeding profusely. He was relieved when the blade showed to be not poisonous, but it was short-lived when blood continued flowing like the river from Natsuki's wound. No matter how much they applied pressure on it, blood did not seem to slow down its pace of spurting out. It seemed that the dagger had cut through an artery.

Takeda was starting to panic when Natsuki grew weak from the excessive blood loss and her knees buckled, falling limply on the ground. He quickly took off his tunic and rolled them into a bunch, before tying it tightly around her wound, hoping that it would apply enough pressure to stem the blood loss. The attempt proved to be fruitless when he saw his tunic soaking up blood at an alarming rate. Fear of losing his friend was so great that he almost broke down crying.

"Tate! Stop fucking around! We need to get Natsuki to a healer! He's.. he's…" Takeda shouted, unable to say that Natsuki might die. By the time Tate got to them to check on Natsuki, she was already slipping in and out of consciousness, her body lying limply on the ground.

"Shit! We are too far from the castle and the public infirmary! Fuck! Come on, please don't die on us now! You can make it!" Tate yelled, voice overflowing with worry. He slapped Natsuki a few times on the face, hoping to bring her out of unconsciousness.

"Healer… Healer… I need a fucking healer! …" Tate chanted as he carried Natsuki on his back. All the while, Takeda held onto her wound, hoping to apply pressure and give whatever little help he could.

Suddenly, an idea lit up in Tate's mind.

"Mai!" Tate shouted.

Takeda's eyes lit up in hope too when he heard the name. They were only a few streets only. There would be time!

Not wasting any moments, with Natsuki on Tate's back, the three of them ran towards Mai's restaurant. Takeda banged loudly on the closed wooden door.

"Open up! Open up! Mai! Please! We need help!" Takeda yelled, tears streaming down his eyes.

The thumping of footsteps down the stairs could be heard. Shortly afterwards, the door slowly opened.

"Who's the—" Mai called out but stopped when she saw a bloody half naked Tate, Takeda drenched in blood and Natsuki on his back looking pale as a sheet. Comprehending the situation, she quickly invited them in and they settled Natsuki on one of the chairs.

Holding Natsuki's blood soaked hand tenderly, she motioned Tate to remove the tunic that acted as a bandage. Blood was no longer spurting out from the wound, maybe because there was not much blood left, but nonetheless, it was still flowing freely out of it.

Natsuki had regained a little of her consciousness again. However, her vision was blurry. She felt weak and vulnerable. She could feel tender hands holding her hand and wished that it was Shizuru's hands that were touching her. _No need to give myself a mental slap even if I thought of Shizuru, since I'm dying right? _Natsuki laughed a little at herself.

Tate and Takeda watched with bated breath as Mai slowly summoned her magic. A fiery orange ball appeared in Mai's open palm and she gently placed the ball of magical aura onto Natsuki's wound.

Natsuki felt searing heat shoot up from her wound all the way up her arm. She screamed in agony at the intense pain from the treatment and thrashed her body around, jerking her injured hand away from the torture.

"What kind of healer are you! Healing is supposed to be soothing! Why the hell is he screaming in pain!" Takeda shouted in anger. Tate was glaring angrily at Mai too.

"I'm a combat mage, not a healer mage so the magic will come out to be painful instead of soothing. Although it will hurt a lot, it will heal eventually. Just hold him in place and it will be over soon!" Mai reassured.

Tate and Takeda held onto each side of Natsuki to keep her firmly in place. As Mai administered her treatment, the heat of the fireball grew more intense and Natsuki writhed in agony. Takeda kept asking Mai to go faster. He could not bear to see Natsuki in so much pain.

"It's all my fault… if only I have not been careless…" Takeda chanted, beads of tears trickled freely down his cheeks. Tate also tried blinking his tears away but to no avail.

After some time, the bloody gap in Natsuki's forearm started to close and a new layer of skin covered the wound. Mai stopped her treatment and Natsuki slumped back in her chair, falling into a deep sleep.

"He should be alright now," Mai said, wiping beads of sweat off her forehead. Tate and Takeda thanked her profusely. Takeda offered payment for the service but Mai refused.

"I'm not doing this for money. Besides, I've already considered you all as my friends," Mai said, smiling.

Tate and Takeda returned her smile warmly. Tate then carried the sleeping Natsuki on his back and they made their way back to the castle. When they got to the living quarters, they gently tucked Natsuki into bed before going back to their own rooms. Natsuki remained soundly asleep throughout; unaware of the ordeal she had put her friends through during her moments between life and death.

**End of Chapter Six**

* * *

I did mention in some review replies that Mai would not be appearing so soon, but due to overwhelming demand, I've decided to hasten her appearance, although she will not be playing much role in the first part of the whole story :D The joke at the start of the chapter was adapted from a joke ive read long ago, hoped you all find it funny. Everytime i tell them to my friends, i had to do the whole skiing action before they got it :X Lastly, thanks for reading this chapter although there's zero shiznat in this chap, i promise next chapter will definitely be their "date". Hopefully, i wont disappoint too much :) It will help if expectations are lowered hehe :D

So how do you like this chapter? Reviews will be greatly appreciated although i dont really think i deserve it since there is hardly any shiznat in this one...

Stay tuned! Next up: The much awaited Sunday training session.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N:** YES! I've finally updated lol. I'm so sorry for the longest delay ever. I guessed i finally got my slacker meter charged fully from the long break lol. So here's the much awaited 'date' session, hopefully you guys aren't too disappointed with it. Lastly, at the end of the chapter, there will be a special reader section, do check it out, it's definitely worth it. Enjoy!

_Words in italics are Natsuki's thoughts_

_'Words in italics and open close inverted single commas are Shizuru's thoughts'_

* * *

Sunlight filtered through the window, its golden rays illuminating the small room and warming the air inside. Natsuki shifted her head to the side slightly from the direct beam of sunlight shining upon her face. Raising one arm to block out the annoying rays, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to get back to sleep. A soft rapping on her door interrupted her attempt. Grunting slightly, she ignored the knocks, hoping the disturbance would go away on its own.

"Natsuki, we brought you breakfast!" Tate's cheery voice came through the door.

Natsuki let out a soft groan of annoyance. Is it too much to ask for a little lie-in in the morning?

Her eyebrows knitted further and further by the incessant soft knocking on her door, and her annoyance grew increasingly by the minute. Finally, her tolerance broke and she bolted up from her bed, eyes staring daggers at her door. Growling softly, she prepared to walk towards her door with all intentions of giving her friends a piece of her mind for disturbing her sleep. She only took one step when a wave of fatigue washed over her, making her stagger back weakly to her bed for support.

_What the hell? Why do I feel so tired?_

Events of last night flooded into her head. The drinks. The fight. The wound.

She checked her forearm immediately. There was no sign of the dagger wound inflicted last night. In its place was a large, ugly purple bruise. Her head swam as she tried to remember what happened last night after she had blacked out from excessive loss of blood in the dark alleyways. Images of Mai appeared in her head and memories of the burning pain from the treatment returned. She totally had no recollections of how she had gotten back, and assumed that it was the work of Tate and Takeda. Looking down, she saw that she was still dressed in her blood stained clothes of last night, and heaved a small sigh of relief. Thankfully they did not help to change her clothes.

"Natsuki, are you up yet?" This time it was Takeda's voice, tinged with worry.

She slowly got up to answer her door, dragging her tired feet that felt like lead along the cold stone floor.

"Hey, good morning," Natsuki greeted her friends weakly.

Both her friends gave her a big warm smile. Concern and worry crossed their faces as they saw Natsuki's pale face and tired pose. Quickly, Takeda carried the tray of food into her room and placed it on her desk, while Tate helped Natsuki to her chair.

"Eat."

Natsuki obeyed their simple demand, a smile grew on face as she saw her friends fussing over her like her mother did, the first time she had her healing at her home. There was a nagging feeling in her mind that seemed to be telling her she had forgotten something. Natsuki took a small bite at her sausage.

"So, do you want to rest for the whole of Sunday? If you don't, we can find some light activities to do," Tate asked.

Something clicked in her brain. She jerked her head towards the window, and saw that the sun was already quite high up in the cloudless sky. Her eyes grew wide in panic. She turned her attention back to her friends and almost shouted out, "What's the time now?"

"It's a quarter to ten," Tate replied, his tone puzzled.

Natsuki slapped her forehead and let out a groan.

_Shit! I almost forgot I'm supposed to be meeting Shizuru for an archery training session at nine! Oh no I'm late! I hope she's still there… Damn!_

Not wanting to waste any more precious time, she quickly grabbed a fresh pile of clothes and dashed into the bathroom to change. Once she was done, she tore out of her room and into the corridors, barely stopping to answer Tate's question.

"Natsuki where are you going? What about your breakfast?"

"Eat them for me!" She yelled back as she ran down the long corridors towards the royal rose garden.

_Shizuru… please be still there! Please, please, PLEASE!_ Her mind frantically prayed as she ran like there was no tomorrow towards the royal rose garden situated on the opposite ends of the pages living quarters. Her lungs screamed at her as she ran from the lack of air and her feet protested with each leaden step. Maids, pages, guards and servants cursed at her as she bumped into them along the way, not stopping to apologize in her single minded quest to get to Shizuru as fast as possible. Halfway there, wheezing, she finally stopped to catch her breath. The short respite calmed her panicked mind slightly, enough for logic to take over.

_It is almost ten o'clock, even if Shizuru waited, no rational person will wait for almost an hour for someone who did not even confirm the promise to turn up. There is no need to run. Even better, there is no need to turn up, since she will not be there anymore…_

Sadness filled her being at the thought that Shizuru would no longer be waiting for her. That she would not be seeing Shizuru and that Shizuru would think that Natsuki had purposely stood her up. Her heart twinged a little. Shizuru was the last person she would ever stood up… and she had just done it spectacularly, especially after her 'reminder' not so long ago.

_Great. This is just great. Even Heaven doesn't want us to meet today, to arrange for the events of last night to transpire, to make me oversleep, and make me miss the one training that I wanted to attend in the whole universe. Is it a sign from Heaven to tell me to continue to ignore her? To tell me that we are not meant to be? _Natsuki scoffed lightly.

_Why am I even turning up in the first place? Is my honor to fulfill a promise greater than the feeling of not wanting to plant false hope in the one woman I love the most in the world?_

Natsuki had half the mind to turn back to her room. Everything was working against her. And them. She even had the perfect excuse for not turning up so she would not be feeling guilty over it.

An image of Shizuru came unbidden into her mind. It was the image of the last time she saw her. Her sad crimson eyes telling her how much she had hurt her behind that unreadable mask. It was the image that would tear her heart into numerous tiny pieces each time she remembered. She could not bear to see it another time. No matter how small the chance, she hoped that Shizuru would be waiting for her, and she would not want to disappoint her again.

* * *

The royal rose garden was a garden enclosed by tall well-trimmed hedges. Its entrance was a small arched opening cut into the hedges. Taking a deep breath, Natsuki walked into the garden, fear in every step. She quickly scanned the surroundings for some signs of Shizuru. There were some trees, shrubs, bushes and many flowers, namely roses that covered the entire vast garden. On any other day, Natsuki would have drunk in the beauty of the place, but she was in no mood for flowers right now. All her attention was focused solely on searching for one person. Shizuru.

Tucked at the far corner of the rose garden was a sole purple figure practicing archery at a target set some distance away. Even though Natsuki could only see the person's back view, she instantly recognized that person to be Shizuru. There was no mistaking her light brown tresses and graceful figure. Taking a deep breath, Natsuki slowly approached the figure from behind, whom was still oblivious of her presence.

Shizuru's arrows were not as accurate as they were during the last practice. They kept narrowly missing the bull's eye. Natsuki watched with bated breath as Shizuru let off arrow after arrow, not once stopping to rest, even though her hands had long started to quiver slightly from exhaustion. It was almost like she was trying to shoot away her troubles and torturing herself in the process.

Mustering her courage, Natsuki softly cleared her throat to announce her presence. The sudden noise startled Shizuru a bit, making her jump slightly. She quickly spun around and came face to face with Natsuki, arrow still nocked in her bow and was pointing straight in Natsuki's direction. Their eyes met for a second and silence descended upon them. Natsuki stared deep into Shizuru's eyes, waiting for her to scold her for her tardiness or some sort of punishment for making her wait. But she did not see anger in those ruby eyes. Instead, her ruby eyes lit up the moment their eyes met.

_"It's almost like she's happy seeing me."_ Natsuki silently thought. Shizuru's eyes looked watery and her nose was slightly red. _"Wait… had she been crying? Did she think that I wouldn't be turning up? Is that why she cried?" _Natsuki felt a jolt of pain stab through her heart._ "Did I hurt her again unintentionally?" _They continued staring at each other, each waiting for the other to break the silence.

"Whoa, whoa, relax!" Natsuki finally gave in, eyes looking at the arrow still pointing at her, and flinging her hands up in the air in a mock surrender fashion. Snapped out of her trance and embarrassed by the rude manner of greeting that she had given Natsuki, Shizuru promptly put down her bow and arrow, a faint blush appearing at her cheeks.

It was the first time Natsuki had seen her blush and it was indeed a sight to behold. Shizuru looked so endearing at the moment that Natsuki felt like hugging her on the spot and kissing away her tears. But she couldn't let her feelings dictate her actions. She knew her place. She had no right to lead her on nor did she have the right to hug her like a man could. So she continued waiting for Shizuru to make the next move, to speak, to scold or to hit her, while she looked. _Surely looking was not a crime?_

Shizuru finally moved her lips. Natsuki waited to accept her wrath.

"I'm sorry."

Natsuki was slightly taken aback. Although she knew Shizuru was referring to the arrow-pointing incident, she did not expect her to not start off by scolding her for her tardiness. _Surely anyone would be raving mad if someone stood him or her up for an hour?_

"No. I should be sorry. I'm sorry for making you wait."

This time, it was Shizuru's turn to be slightly surprised. A small smile crept onto her face and she nodded her head a little, to show that she had accepted the apology.

"I'm glad you came," Shizuru said, eyes brimming with tears again.

Natsuki did not know what she should do. Under normal circumstances, a friend would give her a friendly hug to ward off the tears. But now wasn't normal. If she hugged her, she could not lie to herself that the hug was friendly, nor would Shizuru lie to herself that it was just a friendly hug either. So Natsuki did the next best thing. She spoke from the bottom of her heart, in the most sincere tone she could manage.

"I'm glad you stayed."

It wasn't enough. It wasn't what she wanted. But it was the best alternative given and she could live with that. Shizuru smiled some more and picked up her bow and arrow from the ground.

"Shall we begin?" Shizuru asked.

Natsuki nodded in agreement. Shizuru was about to demonstrate when she felt two strong hands on her bow.

"Allow me." Natsuki had seen that Shizuru had exhausted herself from the all the shooting practice before she came. She did not want to tire Shizuru further.

"Correct me if any part of my stance is wrong," Natsuki said in a nonchalant manner. She did not want Shizuru to know that she did it out of concern for her.

Shizuru nodded, glad that Natsuki had taken over. She had indeed been tired from the relentless shooting just now and did not want to give a poor demonstration. As she stood behind Natsuki, she took in his stance.

Natsuki stood perpendicular towards the target and took aim with the bow and arrow in her hands. She was about to release her arrow when she felt a soft tap on shoulder. Maintaining her poise, she watched as Shizuru moved into view to her side. Wordlessly, Shizuru wrapped a warm palm onto one of Natsuki's hands that was holding onto the arrow. Natsuki had drawn the arrow all the way to her shoulder and she felt Shizuru's gentle hand push against her own. Not resisting, Natsuki allowed Shizuru to guide her hand forward, resting just below her chin.

"There is no need to draw it too far, just below the chin will be fine. It can serve as a marker too," Shizuru explained in a gentle tone. Natsuki could smell her tea-scented breath from their close proximity and she was getting a little giddy from the contact and smell of Shizuru. They stood like that for a moment, neither wishing to break the contact. Finally, Natsuki twitched her fingers under Shizuru's palm a little as a signal. This drew another slight blush from Shizuru as she apologetically let go of her hand and moved back some distance so Natsuki could try a shot.

Releasing the arrow, it flew through the air and narrowly missed the target once again. She tried a few more times and the results were just as disappointing. By now, she had started to feel the effects of her empty stomach and healing session last night. Not wanting to appear weak in front of Shizuru, Natsuki forced every ounce of her energy to keep her hands steady, relaxing only when she was loading her arrow. Meanwhile, Shizuru inspected Natsuki's stance further, hoping to find the root of the problem.

"Natsuki, shift your legs a little closer," Shizuru lightly demanded.

"Like this?" Natsuki asked, as she moved her legs closer together.

"No, move some more. Until they are shoulder-length apart," Shizuru corrected.

"Like this?" Natsuki did as she was told.

"No, here let me," Shizuru said as she moved closer towards Natsuki, bent down and placed both her hands on her right leg, just below the knees that was not covered by her breeches.

"Not too wide," Shizuru continued, as she guided Natsuki's leg inwards slightly. The spot where Shizuru's fingers touched her bare skin tingled as if electricity passed through them. Natsuki tried her best not to lean into her gentle touch. With Shizuru's slightly bent forward position, Natsuki had a front row view at Shizuru's cleavage. It was not intentional. It was natural reaction to look down if somebody was adjusting your position. Natsuki felt blood rush up her head as her eyes remained fixated on the Shizuru's partially covered well-formed chest. Blood was threatening to flow out of her nose any moment.

_Nooooo, I should look away. This is wrong. Goddamn it eyes! Look away! Stop staring at her twin orbs with pearly white skin! Arrghh but they are so lovely…. Just a little while more… they are so close…_

Like a moth attracted to lights, Natsuki subconsciously moved closer, trying to get a better view. Her trance like state was broken when she saw blotches of red liquid appearing on Shizuru's fair skin. It was then that Shizuru looked up and both were startled to find themselves so close to each other. Seeing Natsuki's flushed face and bleeding nose, and the droplets of blood on her exposed skin, it was not hard for Shizuru to put two and two together. Instinctively, she stepped back from Natsuki, and covered her chest protectively with both hands.

"Natsuki, ecchi!" Shizuru scolded, as mixed emotions overcame her. She felt embarrassed, awkward, a little angry but most confusing of all, she felt a little happy. It seemed that her body was able to draw some reactions from Natsuki no matter how much he seemed to act cool and indifferent towards her.

"Noooo… I… I… this is not what you…think…" Natsuki stuttered. "I'm… sorry… I didn't mean it…it was an accident…" Natsuki tried to explain; all the while her face was a cute tomato red, blood still dripping from her nose.

Seeing Natsuki so flustered in such a cute manner appeased any misgivings Shizuru had of Natsuki looking at her cleavage. She then took out a purple handkerchief and started wiping the blood off her chest. When she saw that there were still bloodstains on Natsuki's face due to the nosebleed, she moved forward in an attempt to clean them off too.

Seeing what she was about to do, Natsuki protested, "No, it's ok. I can clean it myself." Before she could wipe off the bloodstains with her sleeves, Shizuru had grabbed hold of one of Natsuki's hand and used the other with the hanky to clean Natsuki's face. Instead of stemming the blood flow, more blood gushed into the hanky.

_T__he hanky that touched her breasts touched my face… oh my god I think l'm going to faint…_

"Natsuki! Natsuki! Are you alright?" Shizuru asked, panic in her voice. "You look so pale and you are swaying on your feet!" Shizuru was by now holding onto dizzy Natsuki, keeping her steady.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I just need a little fresh air," Natsuki replied. _And a little distance away from you…_

"Do you need to see a healer?" Shizuru asked, as she stood a little away from Natsuki, hoping he would get the fresh air he wanted.

"No, it's alright. I'm just feeling a bit faint. Must be the heat…" Natsuki lied. Her stomach chose the most inopportune time to rumble. "Or my empty stomach…"

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Let's get you some food!" Shizuru chided as she fussed over Natsuki. Natsuki couldn't help but smile at the way Shizuru treated her, like a mother hen towards her chick. Natsuki thought she might literally melt in her gentle words and concerned actions. Together, Shizuru guided Natsuki to royal dining halls where the royalties usually took their meals, with Shizuru by her side keeping her steady.

Once the palace maids had taken their food orders, the dining hall was deserted except for Shizuru and Natsuki. Usually, they would be seated on opposite ends of the long table but as Shizuru was concerned that Natsuki might have dizzy spells again, she took the seat beside Natsuki so that she could aid him when necessary. They had small talk until the food arrived. Not caring about table manners, Natsuki dived into her food straight and wolfed down every morsel she could lay her hands on. Shizuru watched with amusement at the way Natsuki ate her food. It was a rare sight for her to see anyone eating with such gusto like Natsuki, truly enjoying the food and eating in an unrestrained manner. It made her feel a little envious of Natsuki and maybe it was this wildness of Natsuki that got her increasingly attracted to him.

As she watched, many questions grew in her head. There were so many things she wanted to ask Natsuki, most of all was why Natsuki avoided her on Friday. Everything had been fine, but why the sudden coldness? Much as she wanted to, she knew that it was not the right time to ask that question. If she did ask, it might kill off the friendly atmosphere they had until now. She then noticed a large bruise on Natsuki's forearm. It surprised her that something so obvious had escaped her usually observant eyes. She attributed the cause to her being too wrapped up in her emotions when Natsuki finally came that she had failed to notice the bruise.

"Natsuki, what happened to your hand?" Shizuru asked.

"This?" Natsuki pointed to her bruise, midway in chewing her drumstick. "Oh, I got it from a scuffle last night with some street scum. Nothing big." She continued, although she left out the part where she almost got killed in the process. There was no need to worry Shizuru with the details.

Shizuru felt a nameless fire light up in the pit of her stomach when she heard that someone had injured her Natsuki. Her eyebrows uncharacteristically twitched a little in anger, earning a surprised look from Natsuki who was watching her reaction. The anger was quickly replaced by sympathy and before she knew it, her fingers found themselves lightly tracing the large ugly bruise on Natsuki's forearm.

"Does it still hurt?" Shizuru asked softly, fingers poking the bruise a little.

It took Natsuki awhile to recover from the shock of receiving such an intimate gesture.

"No," Natsuki replied, shaking her head furiously. Shizuru continued playing with the bruise, letting her fingertips brush lightly across the spot or drawing circles around it. She enjoyed the touch thoroughly as Shizuru's fingers caressed her bruise, but the atmosphere was getting too cozy for comfort. She tried withdrawing her hand but it was held in place by Shizuru's other hand.

"Shizuru… I think we should stop this…" Natsuki said finally.

"Why?" Shizuru asked teasingly.

"Because… this is not proper…" Natsuki explained, trying to fight down a blush that was rising in her cheeks.

Shizuru let go of Natsuki's hand and pouted.

"Mou, why is it not proper? Surely a friend can touch another friend's hand? Unless Natsuki don't treat me as his friend?" Shizuru said, a hurt look on her face and eyes threatening to shed tears.

"No! Yes! I mean, of course you are my friend!" Natsuki panicked, worried that that Shizuru might cry any moment. "Here, take my hand and do whatever you want with it…" Natsuki then extended back her hand which was received by a suddenly very happy Shizuru, all traces of unshed tears mysteriously disappeared. Natsuki felt a little deceived, but nonetheless heaved a sigh of relief when she saw a happy Shizuru.

"So what is not proper about touching a friend's hand?" Shizuru asked, her fingers had now wandered from the bruise to other parts of the hand playfully trailing over different spots since Natsuki had indirectly given her permission to 'play' with it.

"Not..Nothing…" Natsuki replied, suddenly feeling ashamed that she had mistook an innocent friendly gesture as intimate.

"Is Natsuki thinking of something inappropriate?" Shizuru asked playfully, this time her fingers ventured out of their boundaries, trailing up the forearm all the way to shoulder, up the neck and resting just below Natsuki's chin. She then moved forward and turned Natsuki's head so that they were facing each other. Natsuki could feel her heart almost jump out of her mouth in excitement as Shizuru spoke, her breath caressing Natsuki's lips.

"Yes?"

Natsuki's gaze dropped to Shizuru's lips that were starting to pucker. Her cherry lips were begging to be claimed. Natsuki felt her throat run dry and her senses heightened as she felt herself being intoxicated by Shizuru's body fragrance. She could get herself lost in the moment, to succumb to the temptations and capture the rosy lips in front of her. She could forget everything; forget her oath and ambition to give in to her desire. She could be irresponsible and give Shizuru what she wanted and what they wanted regardless of the future. But she could not. She could not bring herself to hurt Shizuru. Not now, not later.She would not allow herself to start a relationship with Shizuru if Shizuru would end up getting hurt.

"No. I'm not thinking of anything inappropriate," Natsuki forced herself to say the words as she pushed Shizuru away lightly with every ounce of determination she could muster.

Shizuru's face fell at the rejection as her heart shatter into a million pieces. She looked deep into Natsuki's eyes, hoping to find the truth. Was she really so unattractive?

But she was surprised to see love in Natsuki's eyes. Undisputed love. There was no mistaking that look of longing and desire. There was also sadness and something else she could not pinpoint. Although she was the one being rejected, Natsuki appeared to be the sadder one among the two. His whole demeanor of clenched fists and slouched shoulders seemed to scream "I can't love you" and not "I don't love you".

Natsuki's affection for her was obvious. If he had not loved her, he would not have nosebleed. If he had not loved her, he would not have shown up when he was an hour late. If he had not loved her, he would not have hesitated so long to push her away.

_'Natsuki, do you have reasons for pushing me away? Are you playing hard to get?'_

Meanwhile, Natsuki managed to get a grip of herself. Schooling her features back to her normal cool and nonchalant look, her face softened when she saw a heartbroken Shizuru standing before her.

_Did I hurt her once again in the name of not hurting her in future?_

As a compensatory gesture and to lighten the grave atmosphere, Natsuki took one of Shizuru's hands and gave it a light squeeze. This brought Shizuru out of her sad reverie. Putting on the best smile that she could force out, Natsuki tried to act like nothing had happened.

"Come on friend, it's time we get back to training," Natsuki said.

Shizuru caught on Natsuki's intention of forgetting the incident earlier. With a grateful smile, she nodded her consent and immediately hooked her arm around Natsuki's, causing Natsuki's body to stiffen considerably when she felt Shizuru's breasts accidentally brush across her arm. Natsuki raised an eyebrow at her.

"What? Friends can hold each other like this," Shizuru said playfully as she gave Natsuki her most angelic look. Natsuki rolled her eyes and they continued walking out of the dining hall.

Unbeknownst to Natsuki, Shizuru had decided at that moment to do whatever it took to uncover Natsuki's reasons for not accepting her. Even if she failed to do so, she hoped that one day Natsuki would be touched by her sincerity.

* * *

Once they were back in the rose garden, Natsuki continued from where she left off. Even though she had corrected her hand and leg positions, her arrows continued to miss the target. The only consolation was that the arrows were not missing as blatantly as before.

Puzzled by Natsuki's unusual knack of missing the target, Shizuru continued observing Natsuki from all angles. Natsuki's stance and posture appeared to be perfect. That would only mean that there was something wrong with Natsuki's aiming. Shizuru then stood behind Natsuki and tried to see where he was aiming. She was horrified when the arrow seemed to be pointing not at the target!

"Natsuki, are you sure you are aiming the target correctly? Is it in line with your arrow?" Shizuru asked.

Natsuki was slightly annoyed that Shizuru asked her such an obvious question.

"Of course it's in line with the target. Shizuru, I may be bad at this but I'm not an idiot."

Shizuru pondered over Natsuki's comment for a second and then the answer hit her. She quickly stopped Natsuki from releasing her arrow and asked.

"Natsuki, do you know which is your master eye?"

"Shizuru, stop speaking in coded tongue. An eye is an eye. You mean there's a master and slave relation?"

Shizuru beamed radiantly as she seemed to have found out the root problem that had been plaguing Natsuki all along.

"Okay Natsuki, let's do an exercise. First form a triangle with your fingers using both thumbs and forefingers. Next hold out your hands while you maintain the triangle shape. Find a spot in the distance that is straight or has a straight line. You can use the edge of the hedge there. Next, place the straight line in the middle of your triangle. Now close your right eye." Shizuru commanded.

Natsuki did as she was told.

"Did the line move?" Shizuru asked.

"No," Natsuki replied, still puzzled by Shizuru's unusual form of exercise.

"Now open your right eye and close your left eye. Did it move?" Shizuru asked again.

"Wow, amazing, the line is not in the middle of the triangle anymore!" Natsuki exclaimed. "Is this some sort of magic trick?"

Shizuru smiled to herself. "No it's not a magic trick. It just goes to show that you are a left master eye. Which also explains why you keep missing the target."

Natsuki looked confusedly at Shizuru. She did not understand what she meant.

"This means that your position is all wrong. You should use your left eye to aim instead of your right eye. And you should use your right hand to hold your bow instead of your left." Shizuru explained.

Eager to test her theory, Natsuki quickly switched her position. Miraculously, the first arrow managed to land itself on the side of the target. Natsuki tried a few more shots to get used to the change in position and each subsequent arrow got nearer to the bull's eye of the target. Natsuki could not contain her happiness and excitement.

"Shizuru you are brilliant!" Natsuki exclaimed, jumping on the spot whooping in joy. Before she knew it, she was hugging Shizuru tightly and was jumping on the spot with her.

However, after the initial excitement wore off, they quickly sprang apart from one another when they realized what position they were in.

Natsuki quickly added, slightly embarrassed at her actions, "It's just a friendly hug." Shizuru just nodded, happy yet disappointed at the same time as they averted each other's gaze.

Breaking the awkward silence again, Natsuki continued to perfect her shooting while Shizuru watched from the back, admiring Natsuki from behind.

Time flew by silently for the two of them as one watched while the other practiced. They did not talk much, although Natsuki would look back once in a while to give Shizuru a grin whenever she hit the bull's eye. Shizuru on the other hand would smile back in return and the wordless exchange continued. It was not much but they had to settle for whatever they could get from one another. Even a simple smile would make their day.

The training session ended close to nightfall when it was about time for dinner. Natsuki had to get back to the mess halls for her dinner.

"So, I think it's time for me to get back," Natsuki said as she scratched her head awkwardly.

"Me too. I need to have dinner with my parents," Shizuru replied.

"Thank you for everything," Natsuki said. She felt ungrateful if she did not even thank Shizuru for sacrificing her Sunday to teach her. "You will always be my most treasured friend." Natsuki did not know why she added the last bit. It was like a heartfelt confession and a conviction at the same time. It was like saying she wanted to treasure Shizuru always, and be just her friend… always.

Natsuki's last statement touched Shizuru greatly to know that Natsuki treasured her and yet at the same time, the friend bit bothered her greatly. She wanted more from this friendship. She wanted to be more than just friends. It seemed to confirm her suspicions that Natsuki was hiding something from her, and that secret was stopping them from progressing to more than friends. She vowed to find out what it was and to destroy it completely. No reason should deny two people from loving each other.

"The pleasure is all mine. I will always treasure you too…" Shizuru said finally. They continued staring at each other for some time. It felt like something was missing, like they should do something before they parted. A kiss or a hug felt appropriate but that would only be for lovers. They were not lovers, but so much more than friends.

"See you next time then," Natsuki said, unable to bear the silence longer. She then waved at Shizuru.

"See you soon," Shizuru replied, waving back as she watched Natsuki turn around and walk away, his back view getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared behind the entrance hedge.

* * *

"Hey, what's up with you? You look so glum after disappearing the whole day to god knows where. Are you okay?" Tate asked in concern as Natsuki sullenly appeared at their dining table with her dinner in her hands.

"Nothing. I just went to practice that's all," Natsuki replied, shrugging her shoulders. It was the truth after all, just minus the details. She then settled down and ate her dinner, not paying attention to the table talk as her mind had wandered off thinking about Shizuru. She felt like she had just gone through a roller coaster ride of emotions. The happiness of seeing Shizuru, the sadness that overcome her each time she realized they could not be together; The happiness that Shizuru made her advances on her, the sadness that she had to reject her. One moment she wanted to see Shizuru, but seeing her made her happy and sad at the same time. But when she did not see Shizuru, it made her sad too. The conflicting emotions were driving her crazy.

"Natsuki, are you really okay?" Takeda asked, breaking her chain of thought when he saw that Natsuki had barely touched her dinner, which was out of the ordinary.

"I don't feel like eating, that's all," Natsuki said as she pushed her plate away. Although she was hungry from the hard day of practice, she had somehow lost her appetite.

"We are going to the bank later to deposit back our money. Care to join us?" Takeda asked.

Natsuki had cleanly forgotten about her money still in her room.

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding. Do we have time to go to Mai's place? I need to thank her in person for saving my life," Natsuki said.

"Yeah, there should be enough time, as long as we get back before the castle gates are locked," Takeda replied. With that, Natsuki went back to her room to get her money pouch and waited for the rest to finish their dinner before setting off to the bank.

* * *

"Natsuki!" Mai shouted as the trio arrived at the Mai's restaurant. "How are you? Are you feeling okay?" She inquired as she gave Natsuki a bear hug. Tate prepared himself for a hug too but was sorely disappointed when Mai turned around and guided them towards a nearby table.

"I'm fine. Thank you Mai, for saving my life last night," Natsuki said. "Is there anything I can do to repay you for your kindness?"

Mai raised an eyebrow at Natsuki. "The gold piece that you left on the table is more than enough for everything. Besides, I do not expect gratitude when helping others." Natsuki held her tongue for fear that she would offend Mai further.

"Come, take a seat. I'll serve you all Mai's special ramen. And it's on the house!" Mai said happily, not forgetting to give Natsuki the eye to warn him from putting money on the table again. Natsuki shook her head in resignation. It was a good thing that she came to Mai's restaurant. The atmosphere that surrounded Mai was forever bubbling with happiness that it had somehow infected Natsuki. Not to mention that Mai's special ramen cured her appetite, making her realize how hungry she actually was. When they had finished, Natsuki offered to wash the bowls that they had used.

"Wow, I will never expect that to come from a noble," Mai said, impressed.

"Since you treated us food, it is only right that I help with the dishes," Natsuki replied. "Besides, I don't see you as just a commoner. For goodness sake, you saved my life and Mai is Mai, that's all." Natsuki continued, shrugging her shoulders as she carried the bowls to the washing area, leaving a misty eyed Mai behind, who was greatly touched by her words. Before the trio headed back to the castle, Natsuki received yet another bear hug from Mai, which lingered a moment longer than usual. They then bade farewell and returned to the castle.

As Natsuki lay tossing and turning in bed, she wondered about what lay ahead of her the next day. They would be having one-week outfield training. She had already packed a few extra clothes earlier when they returned, as they were expected to travel light. She wondered about some of the tricky issues that needed to be tackled when she was outfield. She also wondered if Shizuru would be attending the outfield too, since she usually only attended the classroom classes. The chances of her identity being discovered seemed endless.

Burying her head deeper in her pillow, she decided to not worry too much and just play it by the ear. The most important thing was to be constantly vigilant in order to survive the outfield, with or without tricky issues. Although in order to be vigilant, she needed a good rest. She finally fell into a deep sleep after counting sheep to a hundred and one.

**End of Chapter Seven**

* * *

Thank you for all the kind support and reviews! As I've mentioned in some replies earlier, i will not leave a fic unfinished, so do not worry on that count. Now, the next important thing, SPECIAL READER SECTION! DO READ ON!

* * *

**SPECIAL READER SECTION (NOTE I DID NOT WRITE THIS PART!)**

With permission from the author, **dragon1player**, (do pm her to thank her for her effort if you liked what she wrote, personally i liked it alot hehe) here is a short scene she wrote as a main idea for future chapters when Natsuki and Shizuru had grown up. The scene is a continuation of the erotic dream Natsuki had in class turned reality.

**Setting of the story:**

One night, soldiers attacked the Viola castle. Natsuki heard about the invasion in the last minute and she went to rescue the royal family. She saved only shizuru and they ran to a forest.

**Actual scene:**

They are running.

Running away like cowards. Who can't fight a few lower knights of their enemy, who's not even suitable enough for been able to take over the high protected castle.

They are 45 feet away.

Shizuru tries desperately to keep up with Natsuki's speed but fails. She stops and breathes heavily, she just can't go on.

They are 40 feet away.

Natsuki turned around, having in mind to try encouraging Shizuru, to keep on running. That they weren't going to be caught by some worthless, wannabe knights.

35 feet away

They are getting closer, to close.

Seeing Shizuru's condition she can't move any more. They need to hide. Fast.

30 feet away

Natsuki's eyes wandered around on the unrefined dark area, trying to find a place to hide. There were large trees all over, but not too satisfy to hide from behind.

28 feet

There was a great river to her right, with a highly steep slope before the river flow.

25 feet. Almost enough to have a clear sight of them between the complexes branches of the enormous trees.

She has no choice. It's now or get killed by these losers knights, and to ensnared Shizuru by their custody. Who knows what they are going to do to her love, until they will hand her over to the sick king.

20 feet

She looks at Shizuru, at the hypnotist eyes of the beautiful princess. How she had grown from a 13 years young girl to a very attractive woman. She needs to protect her by all means.

17 feet

"Do you trust me, Shizuru?" Now walking and standing next to the princess.

"Yes". Looking at Natsuki's eyes firmly but strangely calm.

15 feet

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!"

"So hold me tight like you never did before".

10 feet

She obeyed.

5 feet

With the blink of an eye, the secretly female knight wraps one arm around Shizuru and stepped right to the slope. Disappear while skidding on her back on the hillside.

**"STOP!!"**

The knights stopped their running, and looked down at the cruel river.

"You think they could survive?" one of the muscular black knight asked.

"Definitely not. They must be dead." Said other knight. Having a more impressive appearance, and apparently the leader.

"So what do we do now? We can't go back empty handed, we will get executed". Declared one knight, not big as the other two.

"We will head back to the fortress, I will think of something to tell our king". The fourth knight promised.

"I bet you would. If you won't, you will take the blame". The leader threatened, stepping next to the poor knight and put his large hand around his neck, lifting him up from the ground.

"I WILL! I WILL!" he shouted, scared.

"You better." throwing down the frightened knight on the hard land, and heading the way they came from.

The others knights soon followed.

--

"Are you alright, princess?" asked the navy haired woman holding on a thick climber plant, franticly.

"Ye…yes. Yes I am." Holding Natsuki's body strong as she could while looking at the wild river below them.

"Then I'm glad". Climbing up the plant, slowly and carefully.

"And I told you not to call me that." Added quickly with a smile on her face.

"Well your highness, you are milady." Almost getting back up from the dangerous slope.

Natsuki finished the hard climbing and lay down next to where they "died", Shizuru still on top of her.

"But you're my love…" the browned haired looked at her.

"No Shizuru, we can't… you know we can't" looking back in despair.

"Do you love me?"

As response the Natsuki looked away from the gaze of the ruby eyed woman.

Shizuru looked on the face of the 'man' she fell deeply in love with, but soon turn her gaze too.

Suddenly, Shizuru rolled. So now Natsuki was on top of her, and later moved her hands to touch Natsuki's cheeks and neck. Looking with decisively look in her eyes she said in a firm voice

"Natsuki, touch me."

This sentence. This horrible sentence, that was loaded desire.

Her heart skipped a beat. Her hands obey her command unable to resist any more. Slowly she put her hands on the woman covered bosom, Feeling the softest things, she had ever touched in the world. But this time she didn't hold herself back.

The dark haired knight started kissing her with a hidden, burning desire, that both of them feel.

She parted Shizuru's lips while her tongue was entering her mouth. She closed her eyes, with the sandy haired woman doing the same.

Shizuru slowly shifted her hands to rest on the brave knight sides just above 'his' hips. Her hands then wandered to 'his' stomach, feeling the 'man' well-toned muscles.

Natsuki didn't really notice the wonderful touch, which kept traveling down, down. And down into her breeches.

Shizuru smiled into the hot kiss; after all of these years she is finally going to feel Natsuki back.

Slowly and delicately she gets close to where she exactly was stopped, now already on the very beginning of 'man's crotch, but not enough.

Yet.

Natsuki's eyes opened slightly, with a tears forming in each of her eyes.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder and the skies turned dark and gloomy. Rain started pouring down onto the wild wood.

Shizuru's eyes widened.

Her hands were stopped again, with Natsuki's hands holding them tightly.

Shizuru's mouth left the hot one of Natsuki's, and pushed her angrily, of top of her. She started saying something, but couldn't continue.

Natsuki, the brave knight, equal to her brother in her courage and fighting skill, or might be even better,

Looked at Shizuru with teary eyes and tear marks on her cheeks.

Slowly but calmly, she removed the top of her plate armor that protected her chest, exposing a long, dark blue, silky hair. Leaving only a thin blouse that covered her breasts.

Then, right there in the heavy rain, the calm, sad woman said the sentence she wanted to say so many times to the red eyed woman back.

"Shizuru, touch me."

The princess looked confused at the taller knight.

With a sad smile on her face, she takes her dear love's hands gently, and placing them on her bosom.

Now the princess was confused and in a shock. Too much shocked to think, and started automatically moving her hands on female's chest, squeezing from time to time.

Natsuki closed her eyes, enjoying the gentle touch of her love, while she still can, before the royal princess will stop, and get into panic.

**The end**

* * *

If you like it, do thank **dragon1player** for her effort! Hope to see you all soon!


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